Per Eklund
Per Eklund in 2015
|
|
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality |
 Swedish
|
| Born |
21 June 1946 Skönnerud (Koppom), Sweden |
| World Rally Championship record | |
| Active years | 1973–1997 |
| Co-driver |
Johnny Johansson Dave Whittock Björn Cederberg Hans Sylvan Ragnar Spjuth Jan-Olof Bohlin |
| Teams | Saab, Toyota, Nissan, Austin Rover, Subaru |
| Rallies | 83 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Rally wins | 1 |
| Podiums | 13 |
| Stage wins | 73 |
| Total points | 270 |
| First rally | 1973 Swedish Rally |
| First win | 1976 Swedish Rally |
| Last rally |
1997 RAC Rally |
| FIA European Rallycross Championship | |
| Years active | 1976–1978, 1990–1991, 1993–2011, 2013–2014 |
| Former teams |
Eklund Motorsport Clarion Team Europe |
| Starts | 190 |
| Wins | 14 |
| Podiums | 60 |
| Best finish | 1st in 1999 (Division 1) |
1997 RAC Rally
Per Torsten Eklund, born on 21 June 1946 in Skönnerud (Koppom), Eda Municipality of Värmland in Sweden, is a Rally and Rallycross driver who lives in Arvika. His nickname is "Pekka". In rallying he never made it to the very top but he has been very successful in his later rallycross career.
After his education as a driving instructor, together with later teammate Stig Blomqvist at the Kvinnersta Folkhögskola outside of Örebro, Eklund was a Saab factory driver from 1970 till 1979. In 1982, however, the year after Saab discontinued its official rallying involvement, he achieved the brand's last top position in a World Championship event, finishing fourth in the Swedish Rally driving a privately entered, Clarion-sponsored Saab 99 Turbo. He was always proud of that result, since the competition consisted mostly of four-wheel-drive cars, and the event was run in snow. This signified the end of the rally era at Saab, even though Eklund went on to drive an officially-entered Saab 900 Turbo in the British round of the 1997 World Rally Championship. He was Swedish Champion in 1978, beating his team mate Stig Blomqvist. In 1982 Eklund finished 5th overall of the FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers.
In 1971 Eklund started driving Rallycross at Valkenswaard in The Netherlands, and some months later he won the first ever Swedish Rallycross event at Hedemora, on 17 October 1971. He first drove a Saab 96 V4, in the early years of the Embassy/ERA European Rallycross Championship as teammate to his compatriot Stig Blomqvist. He was always prominent, became 7th overall respectively 4th overall in the first and second European Championship series of 1973 and 1974, but his greatest successes have been in later times. From the early 1990s till 2009, his last full season, he was one of the fastest competitors of the FIA European Championship for Rallycross Drivers. In 1999 Eklund claimed his first and only European title for Drivers of the Division 1, nowadays known as the SuperCars category.
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Wikipedia