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I believe Spa had significantly more spectators than Silverstone, again, despite the terrible weather.
They were expecting a large increase on the 2004 attendance, which I believe was around 20-25,000, but the weather put paid to that.
Silverstone had a double blow, the weather which was truely awful, and the lack of Audi backing which they had in 2004. They didn't help themselves with their awful promotion and general lack of repsect for the series, tank goodness we're not going back in 2006!
Unlike in the US, racing in Euope is dominated by manufactuers, they're the ones who promote the race and get fans through the gates.
The BTCC drew 40k crowds at its height, thee days its down to 15-20k at best.
Le Mans alone gets more publicity than the whole of the ALMS season, so teams can base their programs around this one race and justify staying in the LMS with its slow but steady growth.
European teams want a series that will be around for the long term, like the pld World Sportscar Championship, and with the ACO in charge I can see no reason why it will not be around for as long as we have Le Mans itself. Teams have had their fill of boom and bust series, craving TV ratings and jeaperdising the health of the series for short term gain.
Once Audi and Peugeot arrive, the series will step up several levels and bring in more fans, high profile sponsors and bigger and better promotion.
The ACO are in this for the long term, its more important to build up a strong base of competitors and manufactuers than p*** away money on promotions before a top quality product is in place.
Re. Monza and FIA GT, it'l be interesting to see how many fans were at these events, paying or on freebies, for the WTCC rather than FIA GT, I'd say 70%+ myself.
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