Towards a sold-out Le Mans 24 Hours in 2023?

We will not teach you anything by telling you that the centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023 is facing a strong demand from the public. As a proof, the ticketing is clearly in advance compared to the past years. Does this mean that the 2023 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans could be sold out? It's not totally out of the question.

"The question arises", said Pierre Fillon yesterday on the Le Mans 24 Hours circuit during the press conference for the presentation of the Le Mans 24 Hours centenary. No figure was given on the number not to be exceeded, even if we can count on 280,000 people throughout the week, about 120,000 over the weekend.

Do not degrade the public offer

"We are already at the 2022 figure and it's only December," said the ACO president. "It's as if we were at the end of May. There are safety standards to be respected and we want to ensure that the public offer is not degraded. To have a sold-out 24H du Mans race has never happened before outside Covid-19."

The challenge will be to ensure a smooth flow of traffic both inside and outside the circuit. Priority will be given to customer satisfaction, as Pierre Fillon explained: "We have to guarantee a good experience for the public and therefore reorganise everything accordingly: reception areas, car parks, car flows. On this race, many tickets are sold out in the last three weeks. We have been working on the centenary for over two years. There are many requests and the programme is now fixed. All this brings a lot of pressure but also a lot of passion. Not everyone has the opportunity to attend a centenary event in their lifetime. It's a real chance to experience this centenary."

Some figures to know about the 2023 edition:

• 21 grandstands instead of 19
• 10 Fan Zones instead of 3
• +20% more catering outlets
• +20% more shuttles for spectators
• 3000 cars inside the circuit compared to 5000 in 2021 and 4000 in 2022