Some 75,000 fans are going to transform the small race track at Lohéac into a bubbling cauldron once again this weekend. The two drivers from EKS Audi Sport, Andreas Bakkerud and Mattias Ekström, are looking forward to round eight of the 2018 FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX) in front of a large crowd.
“Lohéac is one of the biggest events of the year on the race calendar with sheer rallycross action galore,” says Andreas Bakkerud. “Whenever so many fans turn out at the track this gives me an additional motivation boost.”
The eyes of his teammate, Mattias Ekström, start shining as well when he talks about the popular event in Brittany. “Traveling to Lohéac is a great honour every time,” says the 2016 World Champion. “The many enthusiastic spectators there make us drivers feel like rock stars.”
Ekström, on clinching third place last year, achieved his first podium finish on the track with a length of about one kilometre of which only 33 per cent are tarmac
The section the Swede enjoys most is Turn 5 – a fast, long right-hander that runs parallel to the Joker Lap. “There, you drift in third or fourth gear, constantly keeping the car’s nose very close to the wall,” says the Audi driver. “Very special as well is the Joker Lap itself with a jump when you enter the corner.” Bakkerud in 2013 won a round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship at Lohéac. In 2016, he finished the World RX round in France runner-up. “I’ve always done well on this track,” says the Norwegian. “Following my misfortune in Canada, I definitely want to be back on podium.”
EKS Audi Sport tested at Lohéac in early March. It was the first public appearance of the Audi S1 EKS RX quattro. The car had undergone many detailed improvements for the 2018 season. Bakkerud and Ekström have clinched with it four podium finishes to date. At Lohéac this year, EKS Audi Sport is also fielding an additional Audi S1 EKS RX quattro for the first time. It is for the Hungarian Szabó Krisztián in the FIA European Rallycross Championship (EuroRX).
It’s time to get some French tunes going!
Check out our @Spotify playlist for @LoheacRX !https://t.co/LSMhzJPnrP pic.twitter.com/WZdqy6OUmT— EKS (@EKSRX) August 30, 2018
