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Production
Saab Rally Driver Profile - Per Eklund
May 28th, 2007 by Ryan - 1 Comments
Photo Credit: Per Eklund Racing
Per Eklund, a legendary Saab rally driver and native to Sweden, continues to expand on his long history of rally driving behind the wheel of the SAAB 96 V4 in the early days to a Saab 9-3 Sport Sedan today.
I have included a well written bibliography of Per Eklunds rally history referenced from his website as well as a historical rally history timeline that will act as an evolving work in progress as Per Eklund’s history continues to be written.
Per Eklund
How it all started.Per Eklund began competing in local rally tournaments three weeks after his 18th birthday for it was only then when he could get a drivers license. Before his eighteenth birthday he rode as a co-driver/navigator for his father Torsten and his brother Lars. Those first years Per competed in cars that he found and could afford. His very first competition car was a Volvo PV 544, it was his fathers driving school car.
The first car which he owned himself was a used 1955 Volkswagen. His second car was a Saab 93 with a two stroke motor. In 1967 he bought a new Saab V4, with which he competed in the district Championship in rally. Up until 1968 Per belonged to a small but promising group of young drivers who got to purchase race cars direct from the Saab factory in Trollhättan. He won his first big race in a Saab 96 V4, during the 1969 season (Norska Vinterrallyt).
The year following he received additional support from Saab and was included in the Saab Factory team until 1979. Among Per’s victories during these years some of the greater placements were first place in the World Championships race in the Swedish Rally (Svenska Rallyt) in 1976, another two wins in Norway (Vinterrallyt 1971 and Firestone 1972) as well as victories in the Dutch Texaco Rally 1972. During his days with Saab Per Eklund also made some good placements in the World Championships races in Finland (Tusen Sjöars Rally), Austrian Alp rally and Great Britain RAC-rally.
At the same time that he drove Rally Per also began to drive Rallycross on both national and international levels. His Rallycross career thus began even as the sport was introduced in 1971. Per had already tried Rallycross in 1969 in a Dutch competition where he drove a specially tuned Saab (this car had belonged to Pat Moss-Erik Carlsson). Per also won the very first Swedish Rallycross tournament 1971 in Hedemora.
He and his teammate Stig Blomqvist were during the following year a main attraction in the Dutch TV-broadcasted Championships as well as in the European Championships in Rallycross. When Saab stopped their participation in the World Championships in rally, Per Eklund was immediately offered a place on many of Europe’s rally teams. His first assignment was to develop and compete in a Fiat Ritmo for the Italian carproducer. Per had similar assignments with Volkswagen, which launched Golf GTI at that time. British Triumph as well as Japanese Datsun/Nissan and Toyota also became one of Per’s employers during the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Source: Per Eklund Racing
| Year | Rally | Finish | Car | Co-driver |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Swedish Rally | 8th | Saab 96 V4 | ? |
| 1969 | Norska Vinterrallyt | 1st | Saab 96 V4 | ? |
| 1970 | International Swedish Rally | out (Engine) | Saab 96 V4 | Birger Pettersson |
| 1971 | International Swedish Rally | out (Conn. Rod) | Saab 96 V4 | Rolf Carlsson |
| Norska Vinterrallyt | 1st | Saab 96 V4 | ? | |
| 1000 Lakes | 7th | Saab 96 V4 | Sölve Andreasson | |
| RAC Rally | 7th | Saab 96 V4 | Sölve Andreasson | |
| 1972 | International Swedish Rally | 8th | Saab 96 V4 | Bo Reinicke |
| Acropolis Rally | out (gearbox) | Saab 96 V4 | Sölve Andreasson | |
| Firestone Rally (E), | 1st | Saab 96 V4 | ? | |
| Dutch Texaco Rally | 1st | Saab 96 V4 | ? | |
| 1000 Lakes Rally | 5th | Saab 96 V4 | Sölve Andreasson | |
| Rally of Sweden | 8th | Saab 96 V4 | ? | |
| Daily Mirror RAC Rally | Accident | Saab 96 V4 | Bo Reinicke | |
| 1973 | Swedish Rally | 2nd | Saab 96 V4 | Björn Cederberg |
| 1000 Lakes Rally | out (driveshaft) | Saab 96 V4 | Björn Cederberg | |
| 1000 Lakes Rally | out (driveshaft) | Saab 96 V4 | Björn Cederberg | |
| European Championship | 7th | Saab 96 V4 | N/A | |
| 1974 | ? | out (accident) | Saab 96 V4 | Björn Cederberg |
| ? | out (differential) | Saab 96 V4 | Björn Cederberg | |
| European Championship | 4th | Saab 96 V4 | N/A | |
| 1975 | Swedish Championship | 4th | Saab 96 V4 | Björn Cederberg |
| Finland Championship | 4th | Saab 96 V4 | Björn Cederberg | |
| Great Britain Championship | out (engine) | Saab 96 V4 | Björn Cederberg | |
| European Championship | 16th | Saab 96 V4 | N/A | |
| 1976 | Swedish Rally | 1st | Saab 96 V4 | Björn Cederberg |
| 1000 Lakes Rally | out (piston) | Saab 96 V4 | Björn Cederberg | |
| RAC Rally | out (gearbox) | Saab 96 V4 | Björn Cederberg | |
| European Championship | 10th | Saab 96 V4 | N/A | |
| 1977 | Swedish Championship | out (piston) | Saab 99 EMS | Björn Cederberg |
| Finland Championship | out (differential) | Saab 99 EMS | Björn Cederberg | |
| Great Britain Championship | 9th | Saab 99 EMS | Björn Cederberg | |
| Malar Rally | ? | ? | Björn Cederberg | |
| European Championship | 24th | Saab 96 V4 | N/A | |
| 1978 | Swedish Championship | out (engine) | Saab 99 EMS | Björn Cederberg |
| Ornsholden Rally | 3rd | Saab 99 EMS | Björn Cederberg | |
| Småland Rally | 1st | Saab 99 EMS | Björn Cederberg | |
| Great Britain Championship | out (driveshaft) | Saab 99 Turbo | Björn Cederberg | |
| Karlskrona Pokalen | 1st | Saab 99 EMS | Björn Cederberg | |
| 1979 | Swedish Championship | out (engine) | Saab 99 Turbo | Hans Sylvan |
| 1982 | Swedish Championship | 4th | Saab 99 Turbo | Ragnar Spjuth |
| 1983 | International Swedish Rally | out (engine) | Saab 99 Turbo | Ragnar Spjuth |
| 1997 | Network Q RAC Rally | out (suspension) | Saab 900 Turbo | Johnny Johansson |
| FIA European Championship / Austria | 3rd | Saab 900 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / France | 6th | Saab 900 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / Portugal | 6th | Saab 900 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / England | 3rd | Saab 900 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / Sweden | 4th | Saab 900 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / Finland | 9th | Saab 900 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / Belgium | 5th | Saab 900 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / Norway | 4th | Saab 900 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / Czech Rep. | 2nd | Saab 900 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / Germany | 5th | Saab 900 Turbo | N/A | |
| EuroCircuit, Valkendswaard / Netherlands | 2nd | Saab 900 Turbo | N/A | |
| 1998 | FIA European Championship / Austria | 2nd | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A |
| FIA European Championship / Portugal | 1st | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / France | 6th | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / Sweden | 4th | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / Great Britain | 1st | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / Finland | 3rd | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / Belgium | 8th | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / Norway | 2md | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / Germany | 3rd | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| FIA European Championship / Czech Rep. | 3rd | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| Swedish Championship | 4th | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| Swedish Championship / Tornelilla | 4th | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| Swedish Championship / Höljes | 2nd | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| Swedish Championship / Piteå | 2nd | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| Swedish Championship / Älvsbyn | 6th | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| Swedish Championship / Götene | 3rd | Saab 9-3 Turbo | N/A | |
| EuroC |