The Grand Prix de France has broken the all-time attendance record for a MotoGP event, with 278,805 fans packing out the stands at the Le Mans circuit over the weekend.
It also happened to be the 1,000th FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) Grand Prix and broke other attendance records across the event.
Thursday’s pre-event pit lane walk was attended by 14,900 motorsport fans, while Friday’s practice session welcomed 58,894. The sprint on Saturday witnessed nearly 90,000 fans descend on the race track, which is also an all-time record for the sport. Sunday’s crowd of 116,692 completed the record-breaking weekend.
Carmelo Ezpeleta, chief executive of MotoGP promoter Dorna Sports, said: “All weekend the atmosphere here in Le Mans has been incredible, so we knew the attendance was going to be high. But to break the all-time record and see it’s well over quarter of a million people is something truly special.
“We’d like to thank PHA Claude Michy for the incredible event they stage every year at Le Mans, truly one of the highlights on the calendar, and my final word, of course, goes to our fans. Thank you all for your passion and love for this sport. You’ve made it a truly historic day here for MotoGP, and at the 1000th FIM Grand Prix.”
The previous record was held by the 2015 Czech Grand Prix in Brno, which was attended by 248,434 fans.