Speedway Grand Prix

Last updated
FIM Speedway Grand Prix
Current season, competition or edition:
Sports current event.svg 2024 Speedway Grand Prix
Sport Speedway
Founded1995
MottoNo brakes, no gear, no fear
No. of teams15 riders + 1 wild card
CountryWorldwide
Most recent
champion(s)
Flag of Poland.svg Bartosz Zmarzlik
Official website FIMspeedway.com

Speedway Grand Prix are a series of stand-alone motorcycle speedway events over the course of a season used to determine the Speedway World Champion. The series started in 1995 replacing the previous format of a single event final. The first winner was Hans Nielsen of Denmark. [1]

Contents

Event format

The format for a Grand Prix changed for the 2007 season onwards. Sixteen riders take part in each Grand Prix and over the course of twenty heats each rider will race against every other rider once. The top eight scorers advance to a semi-final and from each semi-final the 1st and 2nd placed riders will advance to the GP final. [2]

In this format all rides counted towards Grand Prix points totals, including the semi-final and final, the maximum points for a single GP is 21 (5x heat wins, semi final win and final win). This scoring revision was introduced as a result of comments made during 2006 that the 4 finalists received too many points compared to the losing semi-finalists who in turn received little benefit compared to, say, the 9th placed non-qualifier . Also, this format means that the winner of each Grand Prix may not have been the rider who scores most GP points from each round. The scoring system has been overhauled for the 2020 season which will see championship points scored based on the overall GP result of a rider rather than each individual heat of which those points will only decide the progress of a rider in a GP.

Qualification for Grand Prix

The same 15 riders form the basis of the Grand Prix line up throughout the course of the season, barring injuries. The 16th rider, known as the "wild card", will normally be a leading non-GP rider from the country in which the Grand Prix is being held. The Wild Card can win the Grand Prix like any other rider, and their World Championship points count the same as the 15 permanent riders, although this has only happened on six occasions by Mark Loram, Martin Dugard, Hans Andersen at the 2006 Danish Grand Prix, Michael Jepsen Jensen at the 2012 Speedway Grand Prix of Nordic, Adrian Miedziński at the 2013 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland and most recently Bartosz Zmarzlik at the 2014 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland.

The 15 permanent Grand Prix riders have been decided by various methods over the history of the series. For the 2016 season, the top 8 riders from the 2015 World Championship automatically qualified. They were joined by 3 riders who qualified via the Grand Prix Qualifiers, and 4 riders who were nominated by then-series promoters, IMG.

Event promotion

The Speedway Grand Prix series and the Speedway World Cup were originally promoted by Benfield Sports International, which later was renamed to BSI Speedway. On 11 April 2007 it was announced that BSI Speedway had been acquired by IMG and the existing team took up roles within IMG Motorsport. IMG Motorsport managed the series until 2021.

Speedway Grand Prix is currently promoted by Discovery Sports Events, formerly Eurosport Events since 2022.

Table of winners

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorcycle speedway</span> Motorcycle sport

Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only one gear and have no brakes. Racing takes place on a flat oval track usually consisting of dirt, loosely packed shale, or crushed rock. Competitors use this surface to slide their machines sideways, powersliding or broadsiding into the bends. On the straight sections of the track, the motorcycles reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour (110 km/h).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Rickardsson</span> Swedish motorcycle speedway rider

Jan Tony Soren Rickardsson is a Swedish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1989 to 2006. Rickardsson is notable for winning six Speedway World Championship titles in 15 attempts. In 2011, Rickardsson was named an FIM Legend for his motorcycling achievements.

The 2006 Speedway Grand Prix was the 61st edition of the official World Championship and the 12th season in the Speedway Grand Prix era used to determine the Speedway World Champion.

The 2005 Speedway Grand Prix was the 60th edition of the official World Championship and the 11th season in the Speedway Grand Prix era used to determine the Speedway World Champion.

The 2007 Speedway Grand Prix was the 62nd edition of the official World Championship and the 13th season in the Speedway Grand Prix era used to determine the Speedway World Champion. It was the first under the promotion of IMG, who had purchased series organisers Benfield Sports International (BSI).

The 2002 Speedway Grand Prix was the 57th edition of the official World Championship and the eighth season in the Speedway Grand Prix era used to determine the Speedway World Champion. The world title was won by Tony Rickardsson of Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Hancock</span> American speedway rider

Gregory Alan Hancock is a former professional motorcycle speedway rider from the United States. As of 2023, he was one of only six riders to have won the individual World Championship four or more times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)</span> Danish speedway rider

Hans Hollen Nielsen is a Danish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1977 to 1999. Nielsen is notable for winning four Speedway World Championship titles. During his career, he won a total of 22 world championships, making him arguably the most successful speedway rider of all time. In 2012, Nielsen was named an FIM Legend for his motorcycling achievements. He later managed the Danish national team.

The 1998 Speedway Grand Prix was the 53rd edition of the official World Championship. It was the fourth season in the Speedway Grand Prix era used to determine the Speedway World Champion.

The 1996 Speedway Grand Prix was the 51st edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. It was the second season in the Speedway Grand Prix era and was used to determine the Speedway World Champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Ermolenko</span> American speedway rider

Guy Allen Ermolenko is a former motorcycle speedway rider. During his career he was known as Sam Ermolenko. In 1993, he won the Speedway World Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speedway World Championship</span> Motorcycle speedway competition

The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official championships were held in 1936.

The 2008 Speedway Grand Prix was the 63rd edition of the official World Championship and the 14th season in the Speedway Grand Prix used to determine the Speedway World Champion. It was the second under the promotion of IMG.

The Super Prix was an event introduced by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), and Speedway Grand Prix organisers, Benfield Sports International, to the 2008 Speedway Grand Prix series offering an additional prize fund of US$200,000 to the Grand Prix riders. Four Super Prix events were held at four rounds of the Grand Prix season, with the winner of each of the four events qualifying for the Super Prix Final. The Super Prix final was won by Polish rider Tomasz Gollob.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Speedway Grand Prix</span> Speedway world championship

The 2013 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 68th edition of the official World Championship and the 19th season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, deciding the FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the thirteenth series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company.

The 2015 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 70th edition of the official World Championship and the 21st season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, deciding the FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the fifteenth series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company. Greg Hancock was the defending champion from 2014.

The 2016 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 22nd season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 71st FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the sixteenth series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company. Tai Woffinden was the defending champion from 2015.

The 2018 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 24th season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 73rd FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the eighteenth series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Speedway Grand Prix</span> World Championship motorcycle speedway season

The 2019 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 25th season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 74th FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the nineteenth series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company.

The 2020 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 26th season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 75th FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the 20th series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company

References

  1. "SGP ICONS HANS NIELSEN". Speedway GP. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  2. "Speedway Grand Prix winners 1995-present". British Speedway Official website. Retrieved 23 July 2021.