SVT Sport had a chat with the Swedish duo who are making the final preparations in Jeddah for the desert adventure.
A total of 400 km of special sections and 250 km of transport sections with a finish line on 14 January.
About 750 drivers and map readers are registered.
Twelve day stages, a prologue and a wild day await the participants.
These are intense hours for the team that starts with three cars.
In the other two cars are two of the sport's real giants.
Stephane Peterhansel is the roof rally's most successful driver.
The 56-year-old Frenchman has won 14 times (!) In the car or motorcycle class.
Carlos Sainz has three victories in the car class.
The 59-year-old Spaniard has twice become world rally champion and is the father of Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz Jr.
- We have received great help from them.
It is a golden source of information for both of us before the rally, says Mattias Ekström.
There are some question marks
Ekström is one of the world's foremost multi-talents in motorsport.
World rallycross champion 2016 and double DTM winner are three heavyweight titles in the 42-year-old's track record.
The map reader Bergkvist became junior world champion in rally 2018. The
couple made their debut in the rally last year in the lightweight class and had major technical problems.
Now they managed to reach the finish line after the restart.
This year's challenge will be a completely different story.
The race car has only been around for six months and it is unclear where the team stands before the premiere.
There are some question marks after the tests that have been done in Germany and Morocco, among others.
- The car is a bit "overweight" and we are here to gather experience and build a future.
If we can excel on any distance with a peak time, it is of course good.
But here it is important to learn lessons and try to keep regular stretch times.
The 44th edition of the dreaded classic is being decided in Saudi Arabia for the third time.
Former rallycross driver Sebastian Eriksson makes his debut in the lightweight class for Mattias Ekström's own team EKS.
Annie Seel also competes in the same class together with the German Annett Fischer.
Racing veteran Eje Elgh also drives the rally.
This in the Classon class with his son Alex.