2023 MotoGP spectators: Sprint Saturdays, Le Mans record, Mugello recovery

The following tables show a breakdown of the official MotoGP spectator numbers for 2023 vs 2022.
Marco Bezzecchi, MotoGP race, French MotoGP, 14 May
Marco Bezzecchi, MotoGP race, French MotoGP, 14 May

In broad terms a total of 2,857,925 people were counted as attending a MotoGP event in 2023, compared with 2,427,928 in 2022.

Le Mans set a new ‘MotoGP record’ of 278,805 fans over the French weekend, although “On the weekend of July 20, 1952, a crowd estimated at over 400,000 flocked to Solitude for the West German Grand Prix.”

Germany’s current Sachsenring grand prix venue was the only other event to top the 200,000 weekend total this year, while Mugello made the biggest turnaround, increasing its trackside audience by 61,592 after a miserable 2022 attendance.

Both seasons consisted of 20 rounds, although Aragon was only present in 2022 while Buddh made its MotoGP debut in 2023. For reasons that are not entirely clear, COTA continues to withhold attendance figures.

Since a weekend total is calculated by adding up spectator numbers for each day, the same fan attending on Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be counted three times.

As such, attendance for individual days is arguably more significant, especially in terms of measuring the impact of Sprint races, introduced on a Saturday afternoon for 2023.

The Saturday-only attendance table is again topped by Le Mans, but - excluding Buddh and Aragon - also shows an increase of 197,489 more Saturday fans compared to the same events in 2022.

The Sunday-only attendance increased by 157,295 this season.

Maverick Vinales, Brad Binder, Jorge Martin, Marc Marquez, Tissot Sprint race, Valencia MotoGP 25 November
Maverick Vinales, Brad Binder, Jorge Martin, Marc Marquez, Tissot Sprint…

The Valencia finale, the venue for a title showdown for the past two years, saw the biggest Saturday increase with an extra 23,971 fans attending to watch the Bagnaia vs (home star) Martin battle.

Only Termas de Rio Hondo and Mandalika saw less fans through the gate on Saturday this year, compared to 2022, although Argentina was effectively the same and still a healthy 60,000+.

Le Mans completed a clean sweep of the daily crowds by heading the Sunday list (116,692), closely followed by Assen. Sachsenring, Red Bull Ring, Valencia and Sepang pulled in 90,000+.

Sold-out venues in 2022 obviously had little to no extra capacity for further Sunday spectator increases.

Phillip Island was unsurprisingly the only significant Sunday drop this season, extreme weather forcing the grand prix to be moved to Saturday afternoon.

Qatar’s revamped Lusail circuit was again at the bottom of the attendance tables but recorded a big increase of 37, 078 fans over 2022 and a weekend total of 55,050 was by far its biggest yet...

Fans, MotoGP, Qatar MotoGP, 17 November
Fans, MotoGP, Qatar MotoGP, 17 November

Saturday MotoGP attendance 2023 vs 2022
EventSat 2023Sat 2022Diff
LE MANS88,31965,005+23,314
SACHSENRING86,51886,202+316
CIRCUIT RICARDO TORMO85,81161,840+23,971
SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT70,91153,937+16,974
CHANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT62,81345,809+17,004
TERMAS DE RÍO HONDO62,66463,659-995
CIRCUITO DE JEREZ – ÁNGEL NIETO62,37544,997+17,378
CIRCUIT BARCELONA – CATALUNYA52,58938,374+14,215
RED BULL RING - SPIELBERG49,13745,553+3,584
TT CIRCUIT ASSEN46,27630,480+15,796
MISANO WORLD CIRCUIT MARCO SIMONCELLI39,94425,300+14,644
AUTODROMO INTERNAZIONALE DEL MUGELLO39,34619,602+19,744
SILVERSTONE CIRCUIT39,11032,897+6,213
BUDDH INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT (2023 Only)35,381N/AN/A
AUTODROMO INTERNATIONAL DO ALGARVE34,43817,453+16,985
PHILLIP ISLAND32,45030,811+1,639
MOBILITY RESORT MOTEGI23,27916,682+6,597
PERTAMINA MANDALIKA CIRCUIT21,28430,021-8,737
LUSAIL INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT14,5375,690+8,847
MOTORLAND ARAGÓN (2022 Only)N/A29,635N/A
CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICASN/AN/AN/A

Fans, MotoGP race, Italian MotoGP, 11 June
Fans, MotoGP race, Italian MotoGP, 11 June

Sunday MotoGP attendance 2023 vs 2022
EventSun 23Sun 22Diff
LE MANS116,692110,003+6,689
TT CIRCUIT ASSEN105,842104,244+1,598
SACHSENRING96,15195,214+937
RED BULL RING - SPIELBERG93,51992,035+1,484
CIRCUIT RICARDO TORMO93,04492,166+878
SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT90,63788,615+2,022
CIRCUITO DE JEREZ – ÁNGEL NIETO79,62558,132+21,493
MISANO WORLD CIRCUIT MARCO SIMONCELLI79,42456,981+22,443
AUTODROMO INTERNAZIONALE DEL MUGELLO77,92143,661+34,260
CHANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT75,69976,856-1,157
PERTAMINA MANDALIKA CIRCUIT73,12962,923+10,206
TERMAS DE RÍO HONDO72,11867,092+5,026
CIRCUIT BARCELONA – CATALUNYA71,85560,068+11,787
AUTODROMO INTERNATIONAL DO ALGARVE67,20443,650+23,554
BUDDH INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT (2023 Only)58,605N/AN/A
SILVERSTONE CIRCUIT48,56441,002+7,562
MOBILITY RESORT MOTEGI40,90832,152+8,756
LUSAIL INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT26,8226,655+20,167
PHILLIP ISLAND19,78740,197-20,410
MOTORLAND ARAGÓN (2022 Only)N/A37,846N/A
CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICASN/AN/AN/A

Fans, Moto3 race, French MotoGP, 14 May
Fans, Moto3 race, French MotoGP, 14 May

 
Total Weekend MotoGP attendance 2023 vs 2022
EventTotal 2023Total 2022Diff
LE MANS278,805225,000+53,805
SACHSENRING233,196232,202+994
CIRCUIT RICARDO TORMO195,889170,380+25,509
TERMAS DE RÍO HONDO186,038186,759-721
SEPANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT182,912163,567+19,345
CHANG INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT179,811178,463+1,348
TT CIRCUIT ASSEN179,167158,298+20,869
RED BULL RING - SPIELBERG173,017167,850+5,167
CIRCUITO DE JEREZ – ÁNGEL NIETO163,479123,101+40,378
CIRCUIT BARCELONA – CATALUNYA152,065114,574+37,491
MISANO WORLD CIRCUIT MARCO SIMONCELLI141,056101,140+39,916
AUTODROMO INTERNAZIONALE DEL MUGELLO135,67074,078+61,592
AUTODROMO INTERNATIONAL DO ALGARVE123,60875,900+47,708
SILVERSTONE CIRCUIT115,959100,400+15,559
BUDDH INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT (2023 Only)111,762N/AN/A
PERTAMINA MANDALIKA CIRCUIT102,929102,801+128
MOBILITY RESORT MOTEGI76,12557,482+18,643
PHILLIP ISLAND71,38791,158-19,771
LUSAIL INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT55,05017,972+37,078
MOTORLAND ARAGÓN (2022 Only)N/A86,803N/A
CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICASN/AN/AN/A

Read More

Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter

Get the latest MotoGP news, exclusives, interviews and promotions from the paddock direct to your inbox