Per Eklund

Per Torsten 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)

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.

Biography

Saab works drive

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.

Rallycross

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.

Per Eklund (Saab 9-3) in 2006

Toyota

Eklund joined Toyota Team Europe in 1980, and gave the 2nd generation Celica's one of its best WRC result by finished second in the 1981 Rallye Côte d'Ivoire. He drove the Group B Celica Twincam Turbo TA64 in selected 1983 and 1984 World Rally Championship events. Eklund also rallied Group A Corolla AE86 and Celica Supra 2800 GT in the British Rally Championship.

Accomplishments

• FIA European Rallycross Champion 1999 with Saab 9-3 T16 4x4
• 2nd overall in the 1998, 2002 and 2003 FIA European Rallycross Championships
• 3rd overall in the 2000 and 2001 FIA European Rallycross Championships
• Swedish Rallycross Champion 2004

Best international rally results (top three results only)

1969

• Norwegian Winter Rally (N), 1st, Saab 96 V4, co-driver ?

1971

• Norwegian Winter Rally (N), 1st, Saab 96 V4, co-driver ?

1972

• Firestone Rally (E), 1st, Saab 96 V4, co-driver ?
• Dutch Texaco Rally (NL), 1st, Saab 96 V4, co-driver ?
• Österreichische Alpenfahrt (A), 3rd, Saab 96 V4, co-driver Bo Reinicke

1973

• Swedish Rally (S), 2nd, Saab 96 V4, co-driver Rolf Carlsson
• Österreichische Alpenfahrt (A), 3rd, Saab 96 V4, co-driver Bo Reinicke

1976

• Swedish Rally (S), 1st, Saab 96 V4, co-driver Björn Cederberg

1980

• 1000 Lakes Rally (FIN), 3rd, Triumph TR7 V8, co-driver Hans Sylvan

1981

• Ivory Coast Rally (CI), 2nd, Toyota Celica 2000GT, co-driver Ragnar Spjuth

1982

• Portugal Rally (P), 2nd, Toyota Celica 2000GT, co-driver Ragnar Spjuth
• Rally of New Zealand (NZ), 2nd, Toyota Celica 2000GT, co-driver Ragnar Spjuth
• Ivory Coast Rally (CI), 2nd, Toyota Celica 2000GT, co-driver Ragnar Spjuth

1983

• Ivory Coast Rally (CI), 3rd, Toyota Celica TCT, co-driver Ragnar Spjuth

1984

• Swedish Rally (S), 3rd, Audi quattro A2, co-driver Dave Whittock
• RAC Rally (GB), 3rd, Toyota Celica TCT, co-driver Dave Whittock

1988

• Safari Rally (EAK), 3rd, Nissan 200SX, co-driver Dave Whittock

1989

• Swedish Rally (S), 2nd, Lancia Delta HF integrale, co-driver Dave Whittock

1991

• Hunsrück-Rallye (D), 3rd, Lancia Delta HF integrale 16V, co-driver Jan-Olof Bohlin

Pikes Peak

• Pikes Peak International Hill Climb (USA): In 2000 Per Eklund achieved a record time of 11:21.58 in his Saab 9-3 Viggen 4x4 while racing the Pikes Peak Open category that was valid until being bettered in 2012 by Frenchman Romain Dumas.
• In 2002 Per Eklund took the Unlimited Class Victory. Eklund and his Saab's performance defeated the second place Unlimited Class entry and long-time Swedish rival Stig Blomqvist by over 34 seconds with a time of 11:13.20.

Trivia

En får ente ge sej (Värmland dialect for "One must not give up") is Eklund's motto and the title of his biography. By Per Eklund & Anders Tunberg, 210 pages, Sportförlaget 1998, ISBN 91-88540-95-2

Racing record

Complete FIA European Rallycross Cup results

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	ERC	Points
1976	Saab	Saab 96 V4 Turbo	AUT1 4	GER1 6	FIN 9	SWE	BEL 6	AUT2	NED	GBR1	GER2	GBR2		10th	24
1977	Saab	Saab 96 V4 Turbo	AUT1	NED1 6	ITA	SWE1	FIN	BEL1	SWE2	NED2	BEL2	GER	AUT2	24th	6
1978	Per Eklund	Porsche Carrera 3.0	AUT	ITA	SWE 9	FIN 3	BEL	NED	FRA	GBR	GER			27th	14

Complete FIA European Rallycross Championship results

Division 2

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	ERX	Points
1990	Clarion Team Europe	MG Metro 6R4	AUT	SWE 6	FIN	IRE	FRA	BEL	NED	NOR	GER	GBR			21st	11
1991	Clarion Team Europe	MG Metro 6R4	POR	AUT	FIN	FRA	IRE	SWE 2	BEL	NED	NOR NC	GBR	GER		20th	17
1993	Clarion Team Europe	Subaru Legacy Turbo	AUT (6)	POR 4	FRA 4	IRE (6)	SWE 4	FIN 2	BEL 3	NED (NC)	NOR 3	GER 1			4th	106
1994	Clarion Team Europe	Subaru Impreza	AUT 2	POR 7	FRA 3	IRE 5	GBR 4	SWE (NC)	FIN 3	BEL 7	NED (NC)	NOR (7)	GER 6		6th	93
1995	Clarion Team Europe	Subaru Impreza	AUT 2	POR (NC)	FRA 5	SWE 3	GBR (7)	IRE (8)	BEL 4	NED 5	NOR 2	FIN (6)	CZE 2	GER 3	4th	118
1996	Clarion Team Europe	Subaru Impreza	AUT 1	POR (9)	FRA 4	SWE (6)	IRE (7)	GBR 2	BEL 3	NED 5	NOR (6)	CZE 3	GER (6)		5th	104

Division 1^*

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	ERX	Points
1997	Clarion Team Europe	Saab 900 Turbo 4x4	AUT 3	FRA (6)	POR (6)	GBR 3	SWE 4	FIN (9)	BEL 5	NOR 4	CZE 2	GER 5		6th	97
1998	Clarion Team Europe	Saab 900 Turbo 4x4	AUT 2	POR 1	FRA (6)	SWE (4)	GBR 1	FIN 3	BEL (8)	NOR 2	GER 3	CZE 3		2nd	119
1999	Clarion Team Europe	Saab 9-3 T16 4x4	CZE 1	FRA 3	POR 2	SWE (3)	FIN 2	BEL 2	NED 2	NOR 1	GER (NC)			1st	123
2000	Clarion Team Europe	Saab 9-3 T16 4x4	POR 1	FRA 3	CZE 1	SWE DNS	BEL 3	NED 3	NOR 7	POL (DSQ)	GER 2			3rd	102
2001	Clarion Team Europe	Saab 9-3 T16 4x4	FRA (11)	POR 3	AUT 2	CZE 2	SWE DNS	BEL 4	NED (9)	NOR (6)	POL 2	GER 1		3rd	99
2002	Clarion Team Europe	Saab 9-3 T16 4x4	POR (5)	FRA 4	AUT 1	CZE 4	SWE 4	BEL 1	NED (7)	NOR 3	POL 5	GER 1		2nd	126
2003	Clarion Team Europe	Saab 9-3 T16 4x4	POR 3	FRA (5)	AUT 2	CZE 1	SWE 2	BEL 2	NED 7	NOR 5	POL (7)	GER 2		2nd	125
2004	Clarion Team Europe	Saab 9-3 T16 4x4	POR 6	FRA 1	CZE 5	AUT 4	NOR (8)	SWE 7	BEL 7	NED (10)	POL 3	GER 8		5th	100
2005	Clarion Team Europe	Saab 9-3 T16 4x4	FRA (9)	POR 7	AUT 7	CZE 5	NOR 8	SWE 3	BEL 4	NED (12)	POL 4	GER 7		6th	92
2006	Eklund Motorsport	Saab 9-3 T16 4x4	POR 8	FRA (12)	CZE 12	AUT 12	SWE 7	HUN 7	BEL 7	NED 8	NOR 8	POL 11	GER (NC)	9th	73
2007	Eklund Motorsport	Saab 9-3 T16 4x4	POR 4	FRA 4	HUN 6	AUT 9	SWE (11)	NOR (14)	BEL 14	NED 14	POL 4	CZE 6		8th	75
2008	Eklund Motorsport	Saab 9-3 T16 4x4	POR 6	FRA 14	HUN (15)	AUT 9	NOR 13	SWE 9	BEL 12	NED (NC)	CZE 10	POL NC	GER 6	10th	57
2009	Eklund Motorsport	Saab 9-3 T16 4x4	GBR 10	POR 12	FRA (NC)	HUN 10	AUT NC	SWE 13	BEL DNS	GER 12	POL 14	CZE NC		14th	31
2010	Eklund Motorsport	Saab 9-3 T16 4x4	POR	FRA	GBR	HUN	SWE 14	FIN 15	BEL	GER	POL 10	CZE 15		22nd	14

^* Division 2 was rebranded as Division 1 in 1997.

Supercar

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	ERX	Points
2011	Eklund Motorsport	Saab 9-3	GBR	POR	FRA	NOR	SWE 24	BEL	NED	AUT	POL	CZE 7	22nd	10
2013	Eklund Motorsport	Saab 9-3	GBR	POR	HUN	FIN	NOR	SWE	FRA	AUT	GER 22		45th	0
2014	Eklund Motorsport	Saab 9-3	GBR	NOR	BEL	GER 22	ITA						37th	0

Complete FIA World Rallycross Championship results

Supercar

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	WRX	Points
2014	Eklund Motorsport	Saab 9-3	POR	GBR	NOR	FIN	SWE	BEL	CAN	FRA	GER 30	ITA	TUR	ARG		57th	0
2015	Eklund Motorsport	Saab 9-3	POR	HOC	BEL	GBR	GER	SWE 24	CAN	NOR	FRA	ESP	TUR	ITA	ARG	35th	0

External links

• Per Eklund fan page
• Rallybase profile