Little over a week ago, it was reported that only 27,000 tickets were sold ahead of the third edition of the Indian Grand Prix.
Just when organisers Jaypee Sports International were beginning to wonder if their investment -- the Buddh International Circuit -- was going to take another expensive hit, things are beginning to look up for them.
Going by the ticket count taken a week before race day of the first two editions, sales for the 16th race on the 2013 calendar fell well below everyone’s expectations, but JPSI officials assured on Wednesday that they will be able to improve on last year’s numbers.
The inaugural edition of the Grand Prix sold over one lakh tickets and set a rather high benchmark.
It was evident that the novelty factor had worn off as the ticket sales plummeted to 65,000 the following year.
Once news of the race missing the 2014 calendar made its way to the public, organisers had hoped for tickets to fly off the counters but that was far from what panned out.
Pushed to the corner, JPSI were quick to reassess their aim of striking the ‘one-lakh figure’ once the initial ticket sales numbers came in.
“We were hoping for good sales this year but right now we know for a fact that we will cross last year’s ticket sales and we are happy with that,” said an official from JPSI.
“This time around the buzz is low, but we have been trying to woo in corporates to market the sport,” Sameer Gaur (MD and CEO, Jaypee Sports International Limited) had said earlier this week.
Despite the issues, the JPSI camp is still working hard to bring people to the BIC for the big weekend.
