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Brussels - A race promoter is heralding almost unprecedented interest in this weekend's 2016 Belgian grand prix.
Andre Mas, organiser of the fabled Spa-Francorchamps race, told La Derniere Heure newspaper that he is delighted with ticket sales as F1 emerges from its summer break.
70 000 tickets
The ticket boost for 2016 is almost certainly due to the popularity and form of F1 teen sensation Max Verstappen, who is Dutch but was actually born in Hasselt, Belgium, just an hour's drive from Spa.
Mas told the French-language Belgian newspaper: "70 000 tickets have already been sold.
"I have not seen it since 2001, 2002. And I'm talking about actual numbers - three-day tickets. It's not like some other large events on which I worked for some years where there was a great difference between the actual number of tickets sold and the official figures."
La Derniere Heure said general admission tickets are still being sold for the race weekend, increasing spectator numbers even more to at least 75 000.