Organizers of the first French Formula 1 Grand Prix in a decade are aiming for a raceday crowd of "around 70,000 when the event returns to Le Castellet next year and hope to avoid the traffic snarls of the past," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. The circuit, on a plateau between Marseille and Toulon, "could accommodate 20,000 more" but French GP Commercial Dir Aurelie Letellier said that the organizers "would not go for full capacity in year one." She said, "We are confident we can have a big capacity but we are also being very humble. So we are working on an estimate of accommodating 65-70,000 people for the race. That is a reasonable objective." Le Castellet, also known as the Circuit Paul Ricard, hosted 14 grands prix between '71 and '90 "before being converted into a high-tech test track" under the ownership of a trust linked to former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone. Road access "was always a problem in the old days" and Letelier said that traffic management "had been top of the list of priorities." The race, which has a five-year deal, is scheduled for June 24 -- before the French school holidays -- and as the first of an unprecedented "triple header" with Austria and Britain (REUTERS, 9/8).
