The Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix returned to the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) here yesterday after a two-year hiatus, with 163,567 spectators attending the three-day event.

Although attendance fell short of the SIC’s target of 170,000, the presence of nearly 90,000 spectators on the final day indicated that the prestigious race remained popular with motorsport fans, despite the absence of local racers in the Sepang race’s Premier class.

Azhan Shafriman Hanif, chief executive officer of the SIC, expressed his satisfaction with the turnout and stated that he was determined to correct all flaws, particularly in the areas of preparation and planning, so that more spectators would attend the next edition.

“I believe we can do better next year because we started late this year.” This year, we announced ticket prices before Ramadan and began promotions in earnest in June. So we didn’t have much time from June to October (for promotions).

“God willing, we will start early next year… we will rest for a while (after the Malaysian GP) and then begin working on next year’s promotions.” We also recently announced super early bird tickets, and there will be early bird tickets available after this,” he told reporters here.

On Friday, there were 21,015 visitors to the SIC, followed by 53,937 on Saturday and 88,615 yesterday.

“We will continue to provide assistance to Damok, ZK Racing, and KBS”

– Azhan Shafriman

The Malaysian Grand Prix, which had not been held in the previous two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, saw Francesco Bagnaia of Ducati Lenovo close in on his first world title after finishing first in the MotoGP class.

Enea Bastianini of Gresini Racing and Fabio Quartararo of Monster Energy Yamaha finished second and third, respectively.

Tony Arbolino of Elf Marc VDS Racing Team won the Moto2 race, while John McPhee of Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max won the Moto3 race.

Azhan Shafriman also stated that the Sepang 1,000 km car race would be held soon, as its original date clashed with the 15th general election (GE15).

“Next year, we will look forward to the Sepang 12 Hours endurance race, which was first held in 2016 under the name Merdeka Endurance Race.” “Our other international events are still being finalised,” he said.

In other news, Azhan Shafriman stated that SIC will continue to support the development of motorsports in the country in order to produce more talented riders like Syarifuddin Azman, or Damok, who will compete in the Moto3 class next year.

“We will continue to provide assistance to Damok, ZK Racing, and KBS” (Sports and Youth Ministry). We will always back Malaysian talent on the international stage. In terms of funding, we will talk about it after the election,” he added.

Damok was officially announced as a Moto3 competitor for the MTHelmets-MSI team for the entire season on Friday.

Info source – Bernama