JUNE 28, 2006

French GP hopeful but cautious on ticket sales

The Federation Francaise du Sport Automobile, the organiser of the French Grand Prix, is cautiously optimistic that this year's event - which coincides with the French Bastille Day national holiday weekend - will be a financial success. Ticket sales are reported to be up on last year by around 10% but the FFSA remains cautious to see if the World Cup soccer competition will affect the sales in the final run-up to the event. This year's race is the 100th anniversary of the first Grand Prix de l'Automobile Club de France and the French hope that the celebrations, including a concert involving Roger Waters and Nick Mason of Pink Floyd will bring in more people.

The race at Magny-Cours struggled to make profits before the FFSA took over the promotion but in recent years progress has been made to increase interest and build a stable platform for the future. The major problem is that the race fees feature an annual increase which is hard to sustain.