The TT Circuit is doing well. Not only is the Asser cathedral of speed crawling out of a financial trough after lean corona years, there is also hope for more tickets sold due to the arrival of the sprint race in MotoGP.
The approaching TT (from 23 to 25 June) in combination with the radiant weather already ensure happy faces at TT chairman Arjan Bos and director Peter Oosterbaan. ,,The sport must predominate and you can feel that on days like this”, Bos said during the press conference looking ahead.
Just broke a record
Bos says that the circuit is financially on the rise again after a ‘jet black’ 2020 due to corona, a ‘better’ 2021 and a ‘good’ 2022. ,,We can replenish our reserves. That’s nice, because of course you want a solid foundation.”
Management and board squeezed their hands together last year with the 166,000 spectators who passed the entrance gates of the Drenthe heath spread over three days. That was not a record at the time. That may be broken for the next edition, because the format of MotoGP has changed, with the aim of offering more spectacle. Since this season, an extra sprint race is on the menu on Saturday; a short race in which drivers can earn points for the world championship.
Drivers are less happy with it
An attractive prospect for the public, says Oosterbaan. ,,Sunday is often sold out, but on Saturday we can accommodate more people. And the sprint race helps with that,” he says. ,,We already see it in ticket sales: passe-partouts are more attractive. The sale of tickets for Saturday has shot up by about 20 to 30 percent. It is also good for the environment, the tourist sector, that not everything arrives in one day.” In total, about 50,000 tickets have been sold at the moment.
While the board and management are happy with the sprint race, drivers and their management are critical of all the changes. Yamaha team manager Wilco Zeelenberg sees the pressure on all riders increasing, resulting in more mistakes and therefore crashes. ,,We all benefit from the grandstands being full, but that should not happen on the backs of the drivers”, said Zeelenberg.