Nationality Swedish Name Per Eklund Rally wins 1 Championships 0 Rally 83 | Rallies 83 Total points 270 Active years 1973–1997 Role Race car driver Stage wins 73 | |
 | ||
Co-driver Johnny Johansson Dave Whittock Bjorn Cederberg Hans Sylvan Ragnar Spjuth Jan-Olof Bohlin | ||
Pikes peak per eklund 850 bhp saab rallycross in car
Per Torsten Eklund (born 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.
Contents
- Pikes peak per eklund 850 bhp saab rallycross in car
- Saab ice driving with per eklund kenneth backlund
- Saab works drive
- Rallycross
- Toyota
- Accomplishments
- 1969
- 1971
- 1972
- 1973
- 1976
- 1980
- 1981
- 1982
- 1983
- 1984
- 1988
- 1989
- 1991
- Pikes Peak
- Trivia
- Division 1
- References
Saab ice driving with per eklund kenneth backlund
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.
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
1969
1971
1972
1973
1976
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1988
1989
1991
Pikes Peak
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
Division 1*
* Division 2 was rebranded as Division 1 in 1997.