[citation needed] In 2004, Ekström won the 2004 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, defeating Mercedes rivals Gary Paffett and Christijan Albers.

After a poor 2006 season, Ekström won his second DTM title in 2007 and went on to win the 2007 Race of Champions, beating Michael Schumacher in the individual finals.

[3] However he did so ex-aequo with another Scandinavian driver as Jan Magnussen from Denmark also took part in the same race, eventually finishing ahead of Ekström.

The entry qualified 19th and finished 10th, with former 1000 winner turned commentator Mark Skaife hailing his efforts, stating that he was "one of the best debutants I have seen", as well as being "the best international driver since Jacky Ickx".

In January 2018, Ekström announced that he would be retiring from DTM,[6] to concentrate on running his rallycross team, now with added support from Audi Sport.

[9] Eventually the team stayed as one-car privateer after signing Krisztián Szabó from Hungary,[10] with Ekström does a wildcard entry at the inaugural World Rallycross event in Spa Francochamps.

[11] Ekström returns to World Rallycross Championship in 2020 season, initially as a wildcard for the first two rounds in Sweden for the JC Race Teknik team, which coincidentally, running two EKS RX's Audi S1.

He replaced Latvian Jānis Baumanis who was unable to do the full season with the team due to funding issues caused by COVID-19 pandemic.

[12] Ekström ended up signed with the team for another two double-header rounds in Finland and Latvia,[13] which he got two wins and five podiums out of six events so far, making him the championship contender along with fellow Swede Johan Kristoffersson.