There were increased attendances at all but one of the 16 rounds and an average total rise of more than 10 per cent on corresponding Grand Prix events from the previous season.
Valentino Rossi’s historic first season with Yamaha proved a major draw to MotoGP fans all over the world, with 1.7 million attending traditional venues across five continents as well as a new home for the series at the Losail International Circuit in Doha, Qatar.
And established circuits such as Mugello, Catalunya, Sachsenring, Donington Park, Brno and Valencia welcomed unprecedented levels of support.
The Gauloises Grand Prix Ceske Republiky at Brno in July recorded the highest increase, with a rise of 22,766 fans on race day alone and a weekend total of 104,719 – almost 30,000 more than the previous season.
Weekend increases of more than 20 per cent were recorded at the Gran Premio Cinzano d’Italia, at Mugello, and the Cinzano British Grand Prix, at Donington Park.
Despite being washed out by rain on race day the traditionally popular opening European round, the Gran Premio Marlboro de EspaC1a at Jerez, attracted record crowds in excess of 200,000 people.
At the final round in Valencia a capacity race-day crowd of 122,034 boosted the overall attendance for the Gran Premio Marlboro de la Comunitat Valenciana to 211,468 as local hero Dani Pedrosa celebrated his coronation as the 250cc World Champion.
The Veltins Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland at Sachsenring was the third event in the season to score over the 200,000 spectators mark for the three days of action.
