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Sepang International Circuit (SIC) has sold nearly 100,000 tickets for the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia this weekend, marking the highest ticket sales in the circuit's history
According to Bernama, SIC chief executive officer Azhan Shafriman Hanif said the figure was unprecedented for an event at the circuit.
"This is a figure we have never seen before in terms of ticket sales," he said at a media conference yesterday, 30 September.
He added that about 3,000 tickets were still available, comprising grandstand and hillstand seats, which could be still purchased on the official Bahrain GP website.
Azhan also said SIC has reached 100% readiness for the event, with almost all logistics cargo having arrived ahead of the paddock activation
He described the preparations as a major achievement, given that SIC had less than two months to prepare for the international event, compared with the usual six to seven months.
"It has been a roller coaster moment for all of us. We have certainly faced various challenges over the past two months.
"All this while, we have been homologated as an F1 Grade 1 circuit. To elevate it to the level of an F1 event, it takes a lot of effort from all parties, and what we have accomplished in these two months is, to me, truly astounding," he said.
Malaysia will host the Bahrain GP from Friday to Sunday, 2 to 4 October, following an agreement between Formula 1, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), and the governments of Bahrain and Malaysia
The agreement allows the Bahrain GP to remain on the 2026 F1 calendar after the race was cancelled in April due to geopolitical tensions in West Asia.
Malaysia previously hosted its own Formula 1 race, the Malaysian Grand Prix, at Sepang from 1999 to 2017 before it was dropped from the F1 calendar.
The last Malaysian Grand Prix in 2017 drew 110,604 attendees, while 88,828 attended the 2016 race, according to F1. However, these figures refer to attendance, so they cannot be directly compared with SIC's current ticket sales figure.
SIC's website states that the circuit can accommodate more than 170,000 spectators at a time.
