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World Rally legends Sebastien Loeb and Petter Solberg admit DTM star Mattias Ekstrom and his Audi have them on the back foot in the World Rallycross Championship.

Ekstrom can complete a hat-trick of RX wins in this weekend's Lydden Hill round, and his recent Mettet triumph moved him into the points lead ahead of double champion Solberg.

"It's clear at the moment Ekstrom is feeling really well in his car, he has a lot of confidence and he's not having to take big risks to do what he's doing," said works Peugeot driver Loeb.

"We are having to push quite hard just to follow him at the moment."

Solberg said he had always expected this kind of speed would come from the Audi RX Quattro, run by Ekstrom's own EKS team.

"I must admit, I have been more surprised at the Audi in the last two seasons - surprised that it wasn't already at this speed," said Solberg.

"Now it's at the level I thought it would be last season.

"Ekstrom's on good form at the moment and he will continue that form this weekend."

Solberg added that his PSRX Citroen DS 3 would come to Kent with further improvements.

"We are a little bit behind, but we have some more updates for Lydden," he said.

"I have to be honest, we hadn't made the plan to bring these upgrades already, but it's clear that we have to do something now.

"We have some work on the chassis and on the engine, just some small differences. Don't worry, there's something up our sleeve."

LOEB FINDING HIS FEET

The two WRC champions finished on the podium behind Ekstrom at Mettet, with Loeb beating Solberg to an RX career best of second.

Last year's Lydden winner Solberg thinks his old rival will be strong at the track.

"It's fast, wide with lots of sweeping corners," Solberg said.

"Seb and the Peugeot will go well there. He will be able to use the joker lap to get some clear track, that's when he will be quick."

Loeb admitted he had been surprised he could beat Solberg so soon.

"Petter is quick," Loeb said.

"I was thinking he would come past me, but he didn't - I was a little bit surprised by this.

"It's good to be competing with him again. We had some good races in rallying and it's nice to be doing the same again. And he's a good guy as well."