The United Kingdom, Italy and Spain post large improvements in viewing figures for the 2008 MotoGP season.

MotoGP is in rude health after latest television viewing figures for the Catalan Grand Prix revealed a significant increase on that of last year, particularly in the UK, Spain and Italy.

The arrival of James Toseland on the Tech 3 Yamaha has boosted the BBC's ratings for MotoGP, with coverage shared between the live airing on their flagship channels and also those on their interactive service.

Indeed, the latest round saw 1.4 million people tune in at a market share of 19.7 per cent. By contrast, 1.1 million were watching at the same time last year with a 14.05 per cent share of the viewing audience. In all, the BBC has experienced 21 per cent rise in audience figures.

The effect elsewhere is even greater. Spanish hero Dani Pedrosa's win on home ground was witnessed by almost 3.7 million people (4.7 million at its peak) in Spain, which was more than those that watched Rafael Nadal cruise to victory in the final of the French Open tennis and that of the Canadian Grand Prix too.

Meanwhile, the everlasting effect of Valentino Rossi on the Italian public saw a huge 8.3 million watch him surge back up the order to finish in second place. Most tellingly, that constituted a significant 46.18 per cent audience share for the Mediaset's Italia 1 network.