Lars Fredrik Wilhelm Ekblom (born 6 October 1970) is a Swedish race car driver from Kumla. After an early career in single-seaters he switched to touring car racing where he won multiple titles in his native Swedish Touring Car Championship and later in the TTA – Racing Elite League.

Career

CART Ekblom made 13 Indy Lights starts in 1992 and 1993. He then made three starts in CART for three different teams and was entered in the 1994 and 1995 Indianapolis 500 races, but after passing rookie orientation in 1994, he never appeared for practice either year.

24 Hours of Le Mans In 1997 and 1998, Ekblom drove in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for Courage Compétition and in 1999 for Nissan Motorsports.

Swedish Touring Car Championship Ekblom began racing in the Swedish Touring Car Championship where he was the series champion in 1998 in a WestCoast Racing prepared BMW 320i. Un the 2000 Swedish Touring Car Championship, he led the points standings heading into the season finale, but a mechanical failure in the last race meant he finished runner-up for the season.

After two seasons away from the championship, he went on to be champion twice more, winning his second title on his return to the series in 2003 with a Kristoffersson Motorsport–run Audi A4. He continued to drive in the series for Audi until 2006 before returning to WestCoast Racing in 2007 where he became champion for the third time. He stayed with the team for the following season where he finished runner–up to Richard Göransson. For the 2009 season, he moved to the E.ON Biogas Racing Team, driving a Volkswagen Scirocco which ran on bio–gas. Volkswagen confirms biogas powered Sciroccos

European Touring Car Championship During his time away from the Swedish Touring Car Championship, Ekblom competed in the American Le Mans Series and then the European Touring Car Championship in 2002. He drove a BMW 320i for BMW Team Belgium He finished sixth in the championship with a trio of third–place finishes as his best results.

World Touring Car Championship Ekblom competed in some rounds of the 2007 World Touring Car Championship season for BMW Team UK to help Andy Priaulx with his title campaign. He made his first appearance at the Race of Sweden before returning for the final two rounds of the season, he scored a single point at the final race in Macau.

Ekblom drove a Volvo S60 in seven rounds of the 2016 World Touring Car Championship for Polestar Cyan Racing, with a best result of fourth at Hungary race 1.

TTA / STCC Ekblom signed a three-year deal with Volvo Polestar Racing to compete in the TTA – Racing Elite League starting in 2012. Ekblom secured third on grid at the final round in Gothenburg to claim the drivers' championship title. He finished fifth in the 2013 STCC – Racing Elite League. Despite missing two races, he came third in the 2014. He was runner-up in 2015, also with a Polestar Volvo S60.

After skipping the 2016 season, Ekblom joined Kristoffersson Motorsport to compete at the 2017 TCR Scandinavia Touring Car Championship with a dealer-supported Volkswagen Golf GTI.

Racing record

American Open Wheel (key)

CART Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points Ref 1994 McCormackSRFPHXLBHINDYMILDET15PORCLETORMISMDONHMVANROANZRLS39th0 1995 FoytMIASRFPHXLBHNZRINDYMILDETPORROATORCLEMISMDONHMVANLS1942nd0 1996 WalkerMIARIOSRFLBHNZR50025MILDETPORCLETORMISMDOROAVANLS40th0

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1997 Courage Compétition Jean-Louis Ricci Jean-Paul Libert Courage C36 LMP 265 16th 5th 1998 Courage Compétition Patrice Gay Takeshi Tsuchiya Courage C51 LMP1 126 DNF DNF 1999 Nissan Motorsports Didier Cottaz Marc Goossens Courage C52 LMP 335 8th 7th

Complete Swedish Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Points 1998 BMW Dealer Team BMW 320i MAN14 MAN21 KAR12 KAR22 AND13 AND24 FAL1Ret FAL22 KNU11 KNU23 MAN11 MAN22 1st 229 1999 BMW Dealer Team BMW 320i MAN11 MAN24 KNU12 KNU27 KAR13 KAR22 AND121 AND22 FAL11 FAL25 AND1Ret AND23 ARC15 ARC26 MAN13 MAN21 2nd 209 2000 Kristoffersson Motorsport Audi A4 Quattro KAR11 KAR21 KNU11 KNU21 MAN12 MAN21 FAL16 FAL23 AND17 AND23 ARC15 ARC24 KAR11 KAR21 MAN18 MAN2Ret 2nd 167 2003 Kristoffersson Motorsport Audi A4 B6/7 FAL11 FAL23 MAN12 MAN21 KAR13 KAR24 FAL12 FAL210 KNU12 KNU22 KAR13 KAR28 KNU13 KNU211 MAN12 MAN27 1st 224 2004 Kristoffersson Motorsport Audi A4 KNU14 KNU26 FAL15 FAL21 KAR16 KAR23 MAN14 MAN25 FAL14 FAL22 KNU17 KNU26 ARC12 ARC24 KAR16 KAR28 MAN11 MAN23 3rd 165 2005 Kristoffersson Motorsport Audi A4 KNU5 KAR5 AND10 FAL5 KNU4 KAR3 VALRet MAN17 6th 73 2006 Kristoffersson Motorsport Audi A4 KNU2 KAR10 MAN4 FALRet VAL3 AND8 KAR10 KNU3 MAN5 4th 30 2007 West Coast Racing BMW 320si E90 STU12 KNU3 MAN2 KAR1 AND4 VAL5 FAL2 KAR2 KNU6 STU1 MANRet 1st 62 2008 West Coast Racing BMW 320si E90 KNU2 STU1 MAN3 KARRet GÖT3 STU5 FAL1 KAR2 KNU9 VAL12 MAN2 2nd 60 2009 Biogas.se Volkswagen Scirocco MAN111 MAN29 KAR110 KAR29 GÖT18 GÖT210 KNU1Ret KNU210 FAL19 FAL217 KAR1Ret KAR2Ret VAL1DNS VAL26 KNU114 KNU25 MAN110 MAN28 13th 9 2010 Team Biogas.se Volkswagen Scirocco JYL15 JYL29 KNU14 KNU25 KAR11 KAR26 GÖT13 GÖT23 FAL14 FAL24 KAR11 KAR25 JYL15 JYL25 KNU11 KNU25 MAN13 MAN28 3rd 230

Complete European Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 DC Pts 2002 BMW Team Belgium BMW 320i MAG16 MAG26 SIL110 SIL26 BRN17 BRN2Ret JAR18 JAR25 AND111 AND23 OSC1Ret OSC29 SPA13 SPA2Ret PER15 PER25 DON1 DON2 EST1Ret EST23 6th 21

Complete World Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 DC Points 2007 BMW Team UK BMW 320si BRA1 BRA2 NED1 NED2 ESP1 ESP2 FRA1 FRA2 CZE1 CZE2 POR1 POR2 SWE112 SWE214 GER1 GER2 GBR1 GBR2 ITA111 ITA212 MAC116 MAC29 20th 1 2016 Polestar Cyan Racing Volvo S60 Polestar TC1 FRA1NC FRA210 SVK110 SVK28 HUN14 HUN211 MAR17 MAR211 GER18 GER27 RUS113 RUS212 POR1 POR2 ARG1 ARG2 JPN1 JPN2 CHN18 CHN26 QAT1 QAT2 13th 47

Complete Scandinavian Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Points 2011 Biogas.se Volkswagen Scirocco JYL111 JYL210 KNU11 KNU26 MAN11 MAN26 GÖT12 GÖT23 FAL11 FAL28 KAR13 KAR25 JYL13 JYL210 KNU12 KNU27 MAN12 MAN23 2nd 227 2013 Volvo Polestar Racing Volvo S60 TTA KNU16 KNU26 SOL13 GÖT19 FAL12 FAL23 ÖST14 KAR14 KAR22 TIE16 MAN12 MAN2Ret 5th 140 2014 Volvo Polestar Racing Volvo S60 TTA KNU16 KNU21 GÖT17 GÖT2DNS FAL1Ret FAL21 KNU1Ret KNU2DNS SOL112 SOL24 MAN16 MAN21 3rd 210 2015 Volvo Polestar Racing Volvo S60 TTA VRS12 VRS2Ret AND13 AND22 MAN13 MAN21 FAL12 FAL2Ret KAR12 KAR21 2nd 356 Volvo Cyan Racing SOL17 SOL25 KNU11 KNU21 2017 Volkswagen Dealer Team Sweden Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR KNU12 KNU22 KNU31 ALA13 ALA22 ALA33 SOL111 SOL23 SOL33 FAL13 FAL21 FAL316 KAR12 KAR21 KAR33 AND12 AND212 AND34 MAN11 MAN21 MAN38 2nd 327 2018 WestCoast Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR KNU15 KNU24 AND17 AND23 FAL15 FAL22 KAR14 KAR215 RUD17 RUD28 MAN14 MAN26 6th 111

Complete TTA–Racing Elite League results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 DC Points 2012 Volvo Polestar Racing Volvo S60 TTA KAR2 AND1 GÖT5 FAL4 KAR1 AND2 TIE2 GÖT4 1st 151

References