Attendance at the Singapore Grand Prix, one of the most popular races on the calendar fell this year, hurt by a slowdown in the local and global economy. The night race, won by Germany’s Nico Rosberg, saw an average of 73,000 spectators attend for each of the three days of the race weekend, promoter Singapore GP said.
The 2015 edition attracted about 87,000 spectators daily, while the inaugural race in 2008 welcomed over 100,000 spectators. “The overall ticket take-up is 15 % lower than the average attendance at the Circuit Park since the inaugural race,” Singapore GP said.
The outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in the city-state had expected to have an effect on spectator numbers though many interviewed by Reuters on Friday took it in their stride. “It’s everywhere now,” dancer Matt Steffanina from Los Angeles said. “We are closer to South America and Zika is way worse there, so I’m not too worried about it here.”
While the additional dollars from the race itself represent a small portion of Singapore’s annual tourism revenues, it marks an opportunity for Singapore to sell itself as a country that works hard and parties as hard. Singapore’s tourism receipts grew by 2% to reach S$5.4bn ($4bn) in the first quarter of 2016, data from the Singapore Tourism Board shows.

F1 governing body to investigate marshal incident
Formula One’s governing body is to investigate an incident that saw cars cleared to race while a marshal was still on track following a Singapore Grand Prix safety car period on Sunday. The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said a report would be carried out to ensure such a situation was not repeated.
Autosport.com quoted a spokesman saying procedures were not “properly executed” by the clerk of the course and team of officials. The marshal was helping remove track debris after the safety car was deployed at the end of the first lap following Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg’s crash into the pitwall at the start.
The cars were released again at the start of lap three but, despite race control confirming three times with the clerk of the course that the track was clear of people and material, a marshal was still out there. Pictures showed him sprinting to the side of the circuit as the field, led by the Mercedes’ race winner Nico Rosberg, bore down on him.
“It was very dangerous,” Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff told reporters. “I’m really happy it ended up with nobody being hurt.”
The Austrian said race control had been asked to re-start races sooner, rather than cars having to spend too long behind the safety car, and that request had been heard. Rosberg said the incident had been ‘pretty hairy’. “I think just as we didn’t expect the re-start, he didn’t either because the re-start was somehow pretty abrupt. Luckily he got out of the way just about in time so it was OK.”
It was the second year in a row that concern had been raised by someone on the track. Last year, a lone intruder ambled across the floodlit track midway through the race and then strolled by the metal fences as cars came past. A 27-year-old British national was later sentenced to six weeks in jail for breaching the security fences.

Former MotoGP champion Hayden returns as a stand-in
Former champion Nicky Hayden will make his MotoGP return at Spain’s Motorland Aragon circuit this weekend as a stand-in for injured Australian Jack Miller at the privately-run Marc VDS Honda team.
Miller suffered two fractures in his right hand when he crashed in Austria last month and has now been given time out to recover after struggling in the last two rounds in Britain and Italy. The 21-year-old won the Dutch MotoGP at Assen in June and still has his home Australian round to come.
American Hayden, who won the 2006 title with the works Honda team, finished third at the inaugural Motorland Aragon race on a Ducati in 2010. The 35-year-old started 216 races between 2003 and 2015, winning three.
“This is an unusual experience for me because I’ve never been a stand-in rider before,” he said in a statement. “But I have a good relationship with Honda...so it is nice to go and help out another Honda team. I’d probably be riding motorbikes anyway and I would definitely be watching the race on TV, so I might as well show up and have some fun.”

France’s Pagenaud wins IndyCar season title
France’s Simon Pagenaud captured his first IndyCar season title on Sunday by winning the Grand Prix of Sonoma, United States from pole position for his fifth triumph of the campaign. Pagenaud won three road course races in a row early in the season, a run capped at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway circuit, and added Mid-Ohio last month to bolster his edge ahead of a dream victory at Sonoma.
“Unbelievable,” Pagenaud said. “There’s so much emotion. My whole career has been about today, about getting to this level. To perform to 100 % with this pressure, it’s amazing.”
Australia’s Will Power, who began the day second to Pagenaud by 44 points and the only rival who could overtake him, saw his bid for the crown undone with a gearbox failure on the 37th of 85 laps on the 2.3-mile (3.8km) road course. Power, the 2013 IndyCar season champion, had been second behind Pagenaud but was towed into the pits and returned five laps down. He finished 20th, eight laps adrift. “It’s unfortunate for us we didn’t have a shot today,” Power said. “It’s just how it flows. When it’s your year, it’s your year. He earned it. Simon did a phenomenal job. I was happy to see him win a championship even though I finished second.”
Pagenaud stayed in front to take the checkered flag with American Graham Rahal second and Colombia’s Juan Pablo Montoya third in the season-ending race. “It was a great run,” said Pagenaud’s car owner, Roger Penske. “Pagenaud dug deep all year and came up with a win for the team.”
Pagenaud finished the season with 659 points, 127 more than Penske teammate Power with another Penske driver, Brazil’s Helio Castroneves, third in the chase on 504, two points ahead of American Josef Newgarden.