Melbourne GP attendance to rise?

(GMM) After a fallow year in 2006, attendance for this year's Australian grand prix looks set to rise, according to local reports.

Melbourne's The Age newspaper said organizers are expecting a four-day turnout of about 350,000, after just over 300,000 watched the event won by Fernando Alonso last April.

2006 was the first time Albert Park had not hosted the season opener since joining the calendar a decade earlier, to avoid a clash with the city's running of the Commonwealth Games.

A spokesman for Australia's F1 organizers would not confirm The Age's findings but insisted that ticket sales are "progressing well" and should match the event's average attendance, which is 346,000.