Motor Sports

Track rental price hike inevitable, says Sepang boss

SEPANG: Sepang International Circuit (SIC) are likely to raise their track rental rates to offset rising operations and maintenance costs which have substantially thinned their profit margins.

SIC chief executive officer Azhan Shafriman Hanif disclosed that the revised rates could come into effect as soon as mid-year.

"The (SIC) team is still looking at the whole thing (revisions), but the earliest is probably by mid-year or the third quarter (Q3) of this year, otherwise it will be next year," said Shafriman when met at Sepang Circuit today.

"Our rack rates have not been revised for the longest time, probably 10 years now. The current rates are RM55,000 (a day) for weekdays and RM65,000 for weekends.

"Our costs have increased two or three fold and we cannot survive with the current rates as our margins are very, very slim. This includes costs such as logistics to bring equipment in and out of the track, cleaning costs and even landscaping.

"We are grateful to our existing customers who have supported us over the years but they need to understand that everyone has been impacted by rising costs."

He disclosed that the track is almost fully booked for weekend sessions this year but weekday slots were still available.

From an events perspective, Shafriman is hoping to make better progress this season as Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOP) have been relaxed.

"Last year we were in the recovery phase and we forecast another tough season for us this year," said Shafriman. "But at least this year we have more time to plan and promote our events.

"Apart from the Petronas Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix, we also have MotoGP winter testing, Malaysian Superbike Championships, Malaysian Championship Series and Sepang 1000km this year. We will be busy.

"Progress for the MotoGP Winter Test (Feb 5-12) has been much smoother this year due to the relaxed SOP. It is much more straightforward.

"We had a lot of issues last year with so many approvals needed for the teams to come here."

The Malaysian GP saw a drop in attendance last year. A total of 88,615 fans turned up on race day, down from 103,850 in 2019. The event was not held in 2020-2021 due to the pandemic.

SIC have already started their early bird ticket promotion for the Malaysian GP. The promotion will run until April.

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