MotoGP: Ticket sales slow due to absence of local full-season riders

KUALA LUMPUR: The absence of full-season Malaysian riders in the Motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) World Championship is among the factors for slower ticket sales for this year's Malaysian GP scheduled this weekend.

WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Principal Datuk Razlan Razali said the traditional strategy of using wildcard Malaysian riders to pull local fans, didn't work this time as the race returns to the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) after a two-year lapse due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Of course, the factor why Malaysian GP is successful is because we Malaysian riders, not just about wildcard. I think everybody knows what wildcard is all about, everyone wants to see a Malaysian rider from the first round until the end.

"But the current economic situation is different from 2019, post-pandemic, inflation and so on. But the interest is much higher, if there is an interest, even if the economy is down, they will find a way," he said when asked to comment on the low ticket sales, during a media engagement here.

According to media reports, only over 50 per cent of tickets were sold as of last week, comparatively lower than the recent years before the pandemic, with a record of over 170,000 fans turning out for the 2019 race weekend.

Razlan was the SIC Chief Executive Officer from 2009 to 2020.

For this year's Malaysian GP scheduled from Oct 21-23, former Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin, Khairul Idham Pawi and Azroy Hakeem Anuar have been handed Moto2 class wildcard tickets, while Syarifuddin Azman, who is better known as Damok, will be racing in the Moto3.

-- BERNAMA