MotoGP 2015: Valentino Rossi helping lift ticket sales for Phillip Island

THE “Valentino Rossi factor” is helping lift ticket sales for this month’s 2015 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

THE “Valentino Rossi factor” is helping lift ticket sales for this month’s 2015 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island.

The popular 36-year-old Italian has won seven premier class titles and could take another step to claiming his eighth in Australia.

Rossi leads this year’s standings after 14 rounds on 263 points, just 14 ahead of fellow Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo, with Honda’s defending MotoGP champion Marc Marquez third on 184.

A series of race crashes has cruelled Marquez’s season, and this week the Spaniard broke his left hand when he fell from his bicycle while training, casting doubt on his next race, in Japan on October 11.

But for Rossi, a favourite with fans all over the world, he is enjoying a resurgence in form this year winning four races and only missing the podium once in 14 starts.

Ticket sales for the island event from October 16 are about 15 per cent up on last year’s total attendance of 78,000.

Corina Black, sales and commercial general manager at the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, said Rossi’s form plus an exciting season of racing had helped boost ticket sales, particularly immediately after a race had been held.

“Ultimately, I do believe the great competition this year, led by Valentino Rossi, is really engaging the fans.’’

Australia’s MotoGP entrant Jack Miller, 20, is currently 18th in the standings in his debut season with the LCR Honda team, after jumping up from Moto3 class. Miller won last year’s Phillip Island race in that category.