The 2023 Grand Prix de France drew a record 278,805 fans across the weekend. (Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images)

MotoGP, motorcycle’s elite competition, has posted a sustained 20% growth in viewership across the first 12 grand prix events of its season.

The rise on the first events of the 2022 season is added to by an even greater increase in in-person attendance at the races.

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The revamped qualifying format for Saturdays has proven to be a hit, with entire race weekends seeing a boost, not just grand prix Sundays.

Saturday sprint qualifying events have been credited with not only increasing crowds but also augmenting Sunday attendance.

From the first 11 grand prix races of the season, nearly half have seen a 30% uplift, with only one event not seeing a “significant” increase.

This growth is emphasized by two as-yet-unnamed races showing growth in attendance of 80% and 60% respectively across their whole weekends.

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In total, race weekends across the first half of the season drew a combined 1.6 million attendees, a MotoGP record through this time frame.

This showcases the sport’s recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic limited attendances that were slow to return in the 2022 season and the continuation of strong viewership and attendance in the first quarter of the season.

In May, Dorna Sports, MotoGP’s promoters, announced that the first quarter of the 2023 MotoGP season had achieved record audiences.

Saturdays, reserved for qualifying, achieved a 51% increase in attendance in the first quarter of the season.

This was headlined by the record 2023 Grand Prix de France, MotoGP’s 1,000th race, which drew an all-time record 278,805 fans in attendance across the weekend at Le Mans.