Swedish racer Edward Sandström to replace his compatriot Mattias Ekström as a wildcard driver for WorldRX in Belgium.

EKS is happy to announce Edward Sandström as a wildcard driver for Round 6 of the FIA World Rallycross Championship in Belgium. The 35-year-old Swede will be at the wheel of the Audi S1 EKS RX in Mettet, the 12th and 13th of July. Edward gets race number #79 and will take over the car of EKS founder Mattias Ekström, who is on duty for Audi in the DTM event in Moscow the same weekend.

Edward has an extensive knowledge of racing almost all kinds of race cars. Wins in the Swedish Touring Car Championship and the title of the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia are mixed with successful endurance racing, for example winning the Dubai 24 Hours. In 2013 he finished runner-up in the FIA GT Series in an Audi R8 LMS ultra. This year he is competing in the Blancpain Endurance Series where he is currently ranking third.

Mattias Ekström (driver and EKS founder): “I met Edward the first time in 1994, when we were contestants in the Junior Cup. In the following years our careers went in different directions, but we have kept close contact, built up a friendship and are living next door to each other in Salenstein right now. During the test in Höljes, Edward proved his race speed in a RX car and I’m absolutely sure, that he will be on a very high level in the Audi S1 EKS RX.”

Edward Sandström (wildcard driver EKS): “It’s my first RX experience, but I’ve always enjoyed to drive cars in different situations and on different surfaces – ice, tarmac, gravel. This fits quite well for RX, which is a very fast kind of motorsports with a lot of adrenaline and you have to be quick in your decisions. I really like that and I immediately felt quite well in the Audi S1. After the test in Höljes I’m really confident for Belgium. To be perfectly prepared, I’ll come back to Sweden for Round 5 of World RX and have a closer look on the whole procedures during a race weekend.”