Interview with Rickard Pålsson

Rickard Pålsson is the new owner of STCC. For many he is mostly known as MD for Veidec, the main sponsor of STCC since a couple of years. But at the end of august it was made public that Pålsson takes command of the STCC.

The official owner change takes place on 1 October. Previously STCC was run by Staffan Svenby and Greger Petersson. But both of them have left the arena and many are curious over how the future will be for STCC.

Veidec was founded 1993 and is a relatively new company that sells chemistry products. The racing involvement in the company is immense. Dragracing, MC, Speedway, Porsche Cup are classes that the company are involved in. How come the company has taken on STCC?

“STCC is big and it is a real challenge to take over. The championship has a great platform to continue on”, Pålsson said.

“And I think it is possible to develop it even more.”

The racing interest for Pålsson has grown recently. When the co-operation with STCC developed the question came up about change of owners, and how that went we know now. But, how will the near future for STCC look?

“Stability is the main thing. Team that invest in the championship must know that it is stable. Stability in regarding the rules are especially important so the teams can invest long-term, Pålsson continued.”

As for the stubborn rumors during this season about an possible change to V8´s, Pålsson has a quick answer.

“That will not happen. It is S2000 all the way.”

But when it comes to other rules there will be changes. Penalty weight is something that has been a hot topic for long in the debates regarding STCC. If you look at WTCC for example the penalty weight is here to stay. A driver can gain up to 60 kilos of penalty weight which will follow them for a couple of races. Generally penalty weights is something that Pålsson does not like.

“I´m quite new to motorsport. Take high jumpers for instance, they don´t pud led in the shoes of the person jumping the highest. I want the championship to be thought of as sporting. The best man should win, but at the same time we don´t want to see too big differences. We are looking in to this at the moment.”

The calendar is another very important thing, Pålsson mean. During previous years the calendar has often been released very late.

“We want to create traditions. It is very important with stability here as well. We have since a couple of years our Veidec Festival for dragracing at the end of July each year. Many book that weekend several years in advance.”

When it comes to races outside Sweden Pålsson leaves the door open.

“The base will be in Sweden. There must be a reason for us to go outside Sweden. Spectators and interest must be there. But also the fact that we have a limited number of good tracks in Sweden affects our decisions, of course. But we haven´t started with the calendar yet, the owner change isn´t until 1 October.”

Activities in the cities surrounding the race events has been something in the schedule of STCC lately.

“That is a nice even that I believe in, to create local interest.”

Though the setup of each race weekend could be changed. Both when it comes to local activities and the races.

“Now they are testing already on Thursday. It would be great if we could make the Saturday more fun and then extend it the day after to a ‘Super Sunday’.”

A thing that will change for next season is the television contract. Since SVT (Swedish state TV) left the viewer ratings have dropped constantly. The current contract with Viasat ends after this season and Pålsson considers this as one of the main questions.

“Absolutely. It is a very interesting question. Right now nothing is done, we will work on this during the winter.”

But the aim to get STCC back in to the public channels is nothing that Pålsson makes a secret of.

“It is certainly a goal to reach. That the viewer numbers have dropped earlier is nothing strange when the availability is reduced.”

Recently it was made public that Thomas Lindskog will be board director of STCC AB. Lindskog has a long experience of racing and has been involved in Volvo´s BTCC project and in the early days of STCC. The rest of the board has not been settled yet completely. SBF (the FIA of Sweden) will have one representative in form of Kenneth Thorén and Pålsson will of course have one seat. But both Staffan Svenby and Greger Pettersson is out.

After the owner change was made public many speculations have been made regarding Janne “Flash” Nilsson and his involvement with the new owners. Janne drives a BMW in STCC in co-operation with Veidec this season.

“It is true that we have a close co-operation, I have been in touch with him in many important questions. Our long-term thought is that we will co-operate with him in STCC AB.”

The STCC will for sure meet a interesting future. During the winter many changes will be made and Pålsson is looking forward to it.

“It will be great fun! I have received positive reactions after the owner change. People know that when I do something, I do it wholehearted.”