KUALA LUMPUR: Former Sepang International Circuit (SIC) boss Datuk Razlan Razali has stressed that the circuit must ensure the Petronas Grand Prix of Malaysia "remains relevant" to avoid suffering the same fate as Formula One here.
The Malaysian MotoGP race has been held since 1991 and Sepang Circuit has hosted the event since it opened its doors in 1999.
For a long time, Malaysia was the only Southeast Asian country to host a MotoGP race.
There has, however, been increasing pressure on the event following the introduction of the Thailand and Indonesia GPs in recent years. In past years, MotoGP fans from neighbouring countries would often travel to Malaysia to watch their favourite riders compete.
Among them includes Italian great Valentino Rossi, who has a massive fan base in Southeast Asia. His retirement at the end of 2021 has also left a significant void.
Current SIC chief executive officer Azhan Shafriman Hanif, during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, said the track is targeting an attendance of 200,000 fans over three days for the event this year (Nov 1-3), which is roughly 20,000 more than last year.
Razlan said attracting paying customers is key for the race's survival.
"I am not in a position to say whether we will be able to achieve that (200,000) target but I always wish the best for the Malaysian GP," said Razlan yesterday.
"If we are able to achieve greater numbers each year then the event will continue to be relevant.
"At the end of the day, this event requires government support and SIC needs to make sure there are always bums on seats at Sepang.
"It has to make sense, and by that I mean it has to be (from ticket) sales and not (attendance) from complimentary tickets.
"At the end of the day it is the bottom line that counts when justifying whether the government should continue to support this event or not.
"We have to make sure this event remains relevant, we do not want it to become like Formula One."
Malaysia had hosted Formula One races at Sepang between 1999-2017 but was discontinued here due to dwindling interest, which left many empty seats in the stands, and the high cost of hosting the race.
Razlan added that Malaysia has also "fallen behind" in terms of racing talent compared to Indonesia and Thailand.
"Well if I am going to put myself in the hot seat at the moment, from what I observe, the press conference (yesterday) was all about the (post race) concert, there was not much emphasis on the MotoGP event itself," added Razlan.
"I think it is sad that we do not have (full season) Malaysian riders this year. After having the race for 33 years here - 25 at Sepang - it would be nice to celebrate by having continued representation in the world championships, sadly they are not there.
"There has been no emphasis on Malaysian representation, we were the leader (in Southeast Asia) in that sense at one point but we are now behind in so many ways, in terms of the excitement of the event, (Malaysian) riders and so on.
"Indonesia and Thailand have riders in Moto2 and Moto3, but where are we?"
Malaysia has produced numerous world championship riders in the past including the likes of Hafizh Syahrin Abdullah, Zulfahmi Khairuddin, Azlan Shah Kamaruzzaman, Khairul Idham Pawi and Adam Norrodin.
There are no Malaysians riding as full-season riders in the world championships this year. SIC have, however, said that they could enter a few as wildcard riders in the Malaysian GP if they are able to find sponsors for them.