Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Q&A with ROC organiser Johnsson

For a few hours on Sunday, Wembley Stadium in London became the centre of the motor racing universe as the Race of Champions pitted some of the world's best drivers against each other head-to-head in identical machinery

It was the first time the ROC had visited Wembley, and although the event was spectacular for all present, issues with ticket deliveries, promotion, attendance and catering proved that there was still some room for improvement.

Autosport.com caught up with co-organiser Fredrik Johnsson for his verdict on the event's debut at Wembley.

What were your feelings after this year's Race of Champions?

FJ: Very positive, very, very positive. The drivers put on a great show, they liked the track and there was a good response from the crowd that was here. We have a lot of offers in the future from big stadiums and other places around the world, but we will sit down and talk to Wembley in the new year and I think there is a very good chance that we will come back here.

Were you satisfied with the turn out of spectators?

FJ: We would have expected a sell-out, but I don't know if the fact that they moved two big football matches from Saturday to Sunday changed something. Also, it is just before Christmas and a lot of people are out shopping, so that could have had an effect as well. We had some issues as well with the tickets; apparently they got out very late to people. But these are things we have to work on for next year.

What would you say the chances of the event returning to Wembley are?

FJ: Very good....

What was the crowd figure?

FJ: We sold 50,000 in advance, and we stopped advance sales on Thursday. So I don't know what the final figure was.

When you sit down in the new year, is that to go over the problems with Wembley or to thrash out a new date?

FJ: There will be a normal debrief, starting already this week. And then next year, we will sit down and analyse what our options are and discuss it. We are very happy.

Do you think if you had had Lewis Hamilton here you would have had a bigger crowd?

FJ: Oh for sure. Of course, he has done a fantastic season and is so popular, so his presence would have been positive.

Is that an ambition for next year then?

FJ: Lewis has always said that he wants to do it, and I hope we can work it out in a way that he can make it next year. He didn't do it this year because he had a sponsor commitment from a long time ago and he could not change it.

The direction the ROC is heading is positive, and it seems to get bigger each year...

FJ: Yeah, it has grown tremendously since we were in Gran Canaria. Moving to a big stadium in central Europe changes the dynamics of it, and coming closer to the audience than we were in the Canaries because that was a long way out. So step by step we are learning things. We have a lot more things to learn and improve, so the ambition is always to improve and make it bigger and better.

And you want to keep it as a single event each year?

FJ: Well, I don't think we can gather all the best drivers like we do here more than once a year. But there is so much demand, that we are looking at the possibility of doing some regional finals, like maybe a ROC Asia or ROC America. Then the winners can qualify for a world final. That is something we can look at.

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Ekstrom targets RoC hat-trick
Next article ROC likely to return to Wembley in '08

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe