Jocke Mangs on how to turn STCC popularity around

Citroën driver Jocke Mangs ended the STCC season on a high with two podium finishes. The 31-year-old looks ahead to next season and discusses the recent debate on how STCC is going to turn the dropping TV audience and spectator numbers around.
“We need new thinking for the overall event. The kind of car that we race is of no importance for the broad audience, it is about creating an event that attracts everyone in the families,” said Mangs.

The Swedish racing scene has been through a lot of controversy recently with the split between STCC and TTA last year and most recently the brawl between STCC and the Swedish Automobil Sports Federation.

A heated discussion has risen after the STCC organisation announced the introduction of rallycross as a new class in the package for next year.
“I have driven different classes in STCC since 1999 and most things look the same. I don’t think it is going to help with new classes such as rallycross or motorbikes. I would rather see them putting focus on spicing the event up with things like bands or with amusement parks. We need to create bigger attention around the drivers and teams to make our selves more famous. And this is not an impossible mission, the STCC, track owners and teams need to cooperate better,” said Mangs.

Criticism has been pointed at the new STCC regulations, which were introduced this year after the peace between TTA and STCC, that the races are not entertaining enough. The STCC and Touring Car Team Association announced at the final race of the year that changes such as reversed grid will be introduced for next year to improve racing, a change Mangs does not believe is necessary.
“I don’t think reversed grid is going to give more overtaking maneuvers, possibly on the first lap. I’m not sure on how to improve the races. But if I put it this way, why would the start of 2014 not be as good as the end of 2013? The quality of drivers in STCC is so high that it isn’t easy to overtake, but I am also convinced that the closer the teams and cars get, the more overtakings there will be. A negative impact on 2013 was that Volvo thought of the overall championship too soon in the season,” said Mangs.

Volvo received criticism after the races at Falkenberg where last year’s champion Fredrik Ekblom let newly crowned champion and team mate Thed Björk past while leading the race. A lot of debate has been focused on Volvo Polestar Racing’s superiority in this year’s championship after winning ten of 12 races.
“Volvo has got four good drivers, good engineers and good mechanics. They have used it in the best possible way. They have also been able to work on the cars between the races in a way that we haven’t. We need to prepare our selves better, Volvo have been outstanding there. No other team have been even close to them there,” said Mangs.

Mangs finished seventh overall this year and was best non Volvo or BMW driver and the Brovallen Design driver is keen to continue in the championship next year.
“I would like to continue in STCC and I have a couple of different options for next year. I would like to continue with Brovallen Design, but we need to step up compared to this year,” said Mangs.