2016 Speedway Grand Prix


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.
Greg Hancock won the title, the fourth of his career. He won the series by nine points from 2015 champion Woffinden, who finished second ahead of debutant Bartosz Zmarzlik. Jason Doyle was leading the series with two rounds to go, but suffered an injury in his first heat during the penultimate round in Poland and was unable to complete the season. He eventually finished fifth, behind Australian compatriot and 2012 world champion Chris Holder, who won his home Grand Prix in Melbourne to move in fourth in the standings.
The title lifted Hancock to sixth on the all-time list, joining Ivan Mauger and Tony Rickardsson, Ove Fundin and Barry Briggs and Hans Nielsen as riders to win at least four individual world championships.

Qualification

For the 2016 season there were 15 permanent riders, joined at each Grand Prix by one wild card and two track reserves.
The top eight riders from the 2015 championship qualified automatically. Those riders were joined by the three riders who qualified via the Grand Prix Challenge.
The final four riders were nominated by series promoters, Benfield Sports International, following the completion of the 2015 season.

Qualified riders

#Riders2015 placeGP Ch placeAppearancePrevious appearances in series
108 Tai Woffinden15th2010, 2011, 2013–2015
45 Greg Hancock222nd1995–2015
3 Nicki Pedersen316th2000, 2001–2015
88 Niels Kristian Iversen46th2004–2005, 2006, 2008, 2009–2010, 2013–2015
69 Jason Doyle52nd2015
55 Matej Žagar66th2003–2005, 2006–2007, 2008–2009, 2011, 2013–2015
71 Maciej Janowski72nd2008, 2012, 2014, 2015
23 Chris Holder87th2010–2015
95 Bartosz Zmarzlik1811st2012–2015
777 Piotr Pawlicki Jr.1921st2015
37 Chris Harris13310th2003, 2007–2012, 2013, 2014–2015
25 Peter Kildemand951st2012–2015
100 Andreas Jonsson1015th2001, 2002–2015
33 Jarosław Hampel1611th2000–2002, 2004–2007, 2008–2009, 2010–2015
85 Antonio Lindbäck17157th2004, 2005–2007, 2009–2010, 2011–2013, 2015

Qualified substitutes

The following riders were nominated as substitutes:
#Riders2015 placeGP Ch place
66 Fredrik Lindgren4
52 Michael Jepsen Jensen11
21 Václav Milík266

Fredrik Lindgren replaced the injured Jarosław Hampel for the first six rounds. Hampel then officially withdrew from the competition on 22 August 2016, promoting Lindgren to a full-time place in the series.

Calendar

The 2016 season consisted of 11 events, one less than the 2015 series.

Final Classification