Speedway Grand Prix: Nine nations represented as 2024 line-up is confirmed

The 2024 FIM Speedway Grand Prix line-up will feature 15 riders from nine different countries as riders from Speedway GP nations Latvia, Germany and Czech Republic all make their debuts.

The five permanent wild cards for next season have been revealed, with Great Britain icons Dan Bewley and triple Speedway GP world champion Tai Woffinden returning to the series.

They are joined by three riders making their full-time Speedway GP debuts – Polish shooting star Dominik Kubera, Latvia’s first-ever Speedway GP regular Andzejs Lebedevs and Germany racer Kai Huckenbeck, who becomes his country’s first SGP full-timer since Martin Smolinski in 2014.

With Czech Republic star Jan Kvech entering the 2024 Speedway GP line-up alongside Lebedevs and Huckenbeck, it means nine countries – Poland, Sweden, Slovakia, Australia, Denmark, Great Britain, Latvia, Germany and Czech Republic – will all have full-time SGP representatives.

This year’s Holmgrens Bil FIM Speedway GP of Sweden – Malilla winner Bewley fell just four points short of automatic qualification for 2024, taking seventh spot in the final standings.

Meanwhile, Britain’s most successful speedway rider Woffinden missed the final two rounds due to injury after crashing out of the FIM Speedway GP of Great Britain – Cardiff with a broken hand on September 2.

Lebedevs is promoted from the first substitute spot in 2023. The 2017 Speedway European Championship winner also led his country to its first-ever world team final in the 2021 FIM Speedway of Nations as he takes the sport in his homeland to new heights.

Polish racer Kubera was part of his country’s Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup-winning side in Wroclaw on July 29, scoring nine points in the Final – a total bettered only by Zmarzlik.

The two-time Speedway GP finalist, who finished second and third in the 2021 FIM Lublin Speedway GP double-header, has helped Polish club Lublin to back-to-back PGE Ekstraliga titles in 2022 and 2023, finishing seventh in this year’s average charts on 2.197 points per race. He also won bronze and silver medals in the 2019 and 2020 FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championships respectively.

German international Huckenbeck steps into the Speedway GP field after scoring a total of 11 points from three SGP rounds as third substitute rider and Wölk FIM German Speedway GP wild card. He also took seventh place in the Speedway European Championship on 30 points – tying with Kubera in sixth.

FIM Speedway championships director Laura Manciet is pleased to see so many countries represented in the 2024 field.

She said: “As part of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports’ vision to make the sport more visible and grow our fan base across more nations, it can only help that nine different countries will have at least one Speedway GP rider to follow and support in 2024.

“We hope fans in each of these countries will follow their rider or riders’ progress throughout the season and this can only build greater interest in the sport in each of these nations.

“We congratulate all of the riders who are part of the 2024 Speedway GP line-up and wish them well for next year.”

FIM race director Phil Morris commented: “After keeping an almost unchanged Speedway GP line-up from 2022 to 2023, it was decided that we would bring some fresh faces into the Speedway GP series for 2024.

“It’s always difficult when you have to inform riders that they have not made the cut for next season. But at the same time, we hope our five newcomers will all take their chance to shine against the best in the world, and I congratulate all 15 riders who will compete in Speedway GP next season.”

FIM Track Racing Commission (CCP) director Armando Castagna added: “A key objective of the FIM is to involve as many countries as possible in our FIM Speedway World Championship events, so it is great to see nine nations represented in Speedway GP for 2024.

“We have five riders making their Speedway GP debuts and this will be a very special season for them, as well as the fans in Latvia, who gain their first SGP rider, and supporters in Germany and Czech Republic, who have waited a very long time to see one of their riders in Speedway GP on a regular basis.

“We look forward to working with all of our Speedway GP riders in 2024 and wish them all the best of luck.”

The top six from the 2023 Speedway GP World Championship gain automatic qualification for 2024, meaning Poland’s newly crowned four-time world champion Bartosz Zmarzlik, Swedish silver medallist Fredrik Lindgren, Slovakia’s first-ever Speedway GP medallist Martin Vaculik in third, Australian champion Jack Holder in fourth, fifth-placed Danish racer Leon Madsen and Great Britain ace Robert Lambert in sixth all return.

Having won his third Speedway European Championship on September 22, Denmark’s Mikkel Michelsen also gains automatic entry.

Former Speedway GP world champion Jason Doyle won the FIM GP Challenge in Gislaved, Sweden on August 19 to secure his spot, with Poland’s Szymon Wozniak earning his first-ever full-time Speedway GP season by finishing third in the qualification round.

With Vaculik taking second place in Gislaved, the qualification spot he earned there passes to Czech Republic talent Kvech, who becomes his country’s first full-time Speedway GP rider since Lukas Dryml raced in the 2008 series.

Kvech finished fifth at the FIM GP Challenge, but with Lambert taking fourth spot in Sweden and racing to sixth place in the 2023 Speedway GP standings, the Brit could afford to pass up the qualification place handed down by Vaculik.

The 2024 Speedway GP line-up is completed by a stellar list of seven substitute stars, who will be called into action if any of the 15 series regulars are sidelined by injury, illness or other reasons.

Three-time Australian champion Max Fricke is first reserve for 2024, having finished ninth in this season’s Speedway GP World Championship, with former world No.3 Maciej Janowski of Poland, who helped his country to Monster Energy FIM SWC this summer, named as second substitute.

After winning the 2022 FIM GP Challenge in Glasgow to fight his way into the 2023 line-up, Sweden’s Kim Nilsson – a finalist in Teterow – is handed the third substitute position, with 2022 Danish champion Rasmus Jensen named in the fourth reserve role.

The fifth substitute spot goes to American international Luke Becker, who became the USA’s first Speedway GP rider since four-time world champion Greg Hancock retired in 2018 at last Saturday’s DeWalt FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Torun.

France’s Dimitri Bergé, who starred for his country in their first-ever Monster Energy FIM SWC, is sixth reserve, with double FIM SGP2 champion Mateusz Cierniak of Poland rounding off the list in the seventh substitute spot.

1. Bartosz Zmarzlik (Poland)

2. Fredrik Lindgren (Sweden)

3. Martin Vaculik (Slovakia)

4. Jack Holder (Australia)

6. Robert Lambert (Great Britain)

7. Dan Bewley (Great Britain)

8. Jason Doyle (Australia)

9. Tai Woffinden (Great Britain)

10. Mikkel Michelsen (Denmark)

11. Andzejs Lebedevs (Latvia)

12. Kai Huckenbeck (Germany)

13. Dominik Kubera (Poland)

14. Szymon Wozniak (Poland)

15. Jan Kvech (Czech Republic)

S1. Max Fricke (Australia)

S2. Maciej Janowski (Poland)

S4. Rasmus Jensen (Denmark)

S6. Dimitri Bergé (France)

S7. Mateusz Cierniak (Poland)