The Sepang International Circuit’s (SIC) efforts to give former world champion Max Biaggi from Italy a wild card in the World Superbike Championship 2015 (WSBK), here to attract fans failed to boost ticket sales.
SIC chief executive officer Datuk Razlan Razali said the 22,664 tickets sold this year was low compared with 34,000 sold when hosting the event for the first time last year.
He said the absence of a local rider in the main race was identified as one of the reasons for the low attendance compared with the World Motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP).
“We will give another year to gauge the response of the fans before deciding if we need to continue hosting the WSBK. We must understand that even as host of the MotoGP, we have only seen an increase in attendance for the past five years although we have been hosts for 25 years,” he told reporters here today.
Razlan said for next year’s race, the SIC may give a local rider a ‘wild card’ to attract fans.
“However, if a local rider competes in the race throughout the year, there will be no necessity to give a wild card,” he said. – BERNAMA
