The Grand Prix de France, disputed on Sunday on the Bugatti circuit of Le Mans, broke its crowd. A success that owes a lot to the popularity of the young French pilot, to the fight for a second world title.
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The atmosphere was that of a happy fair. Saturday May 14 and Sunday 5, 110,000 people – many of whom came with family – were gathered on the Bugatti circuit of Le Mans to attend the French motorcycle Grand Prix. They have not shunned their pleasure to meet for this great feast of love lovers, after two white years due to pandemic. “It is four times more than in 1994 when I organized the Grand Prix de France for the first time,” said Claude Michy, the promoter of the event.
If France was previously considered to be the country of motocross and endurance, it is taking a passion for speed motorcycle. Of the 21 stages of the world championship calendar, Le Mans is the race that attracts the largest crowd and captures strong television audiences: in 2021, Canal+ had made a record, at 1.8 million viewers (the test is also Clear broadcast on C8). Since it started in 2019 the retransmission of the Grands Prix, the encrypted chain has doubled its audiences, which prompted her to extend her dissemination agreement for six additional seasons, until 2029.
The “Fabio Quartararo effect” is no stranger to this new passion. First French MotoGP world champion (in 2021), the queen speed category, the Niçois (23 years old) is idolized as a rock star. To take the measure of his popularity, and even if, on Sunday, he only took 4th place in the race, it was enough to walk in the aisles of the “Village” of the Grand Prix de France, in Le Mans. The figure “20”, his number in the race, decorated with two small horns of Diablotin – he is nicknamed “El Diablo” because of the helmet decorated with a devil which he wore during his first races in Spain, Age of seven years – was omnipresent.
“He is simple. He looks cool. He did not take the melon”
“Fabio is a phenomenon as there is one by generation. It is the quench of the greatest, like the Spaniard Marc Marquez and the Italian Valentino Rossi”, respectively eight times and nine times world champion (between 2010 and 2019 and between 1997 and 2009), notes the former Randy of Puniet champion, now a consultant for Canal+. “He is the champion that France was waiting for, supports Claude Michy. He is charismatic, well high, he speaks four languages, he is the muse of the clothing brand Ikks, he already has four times more followers than the Teddy judoka Riner and, unlike some footballers, he is an accessible champion, close to people “.
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