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 (his first SGP win since 2012) to move in fourth in the standings.
The title lifted Hancock to sixth on the all-time list, joining Ivan Mauger and Tony Rickardsson (6 each), Ove Fundin (5) and Barry Briggs and Hans Nielsen (4 each) 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
# Riders 2015 place GP Ch place Appearance Previous appearances in series108 Tai Woffinden 1 — 5th 2010, 2011, 2013–201545 Greg Hancock 2 — 22nd 1995–20153 Nicki Pedersen 3 — 16th 2000, 2001–201588 Niels Kristian Iversen 4 — 6th 2004–2005, 2006, 2008, 2009–2010, 2013–201569 Jason Doyle 5 — 2nd 201555 Matej Žagar 6 — 6th 2003–2005, 2006–2007, 2008–2009, 2011, 2013–201571 Maciej Janowski 7 — 2nd 2008, 2012, 2014, 201523 Chris Holder 8 — 7th 2010–201595 Bartosz Zmarzlik 18 1 1st 2012–2015777 Piotr Pawlicki Jr. 19 2 1st 201537 Chris Harris 13 3 10th 2003, 2007–2012, 2013, 2014–201525 Peter Kildemand 9 5 1st 2012–2015100 Andreas Jonsson 10 — 15th 2001, 2002–201533 Jarosław Hampel 16 — 11th 2000–2002, 2004–2007, 2008–2009, 2010–201585 Antonio Lindbäck 17 15 7th 2004, 2005–2007, 2009–2010, 2011–2013, 2015
Qualified substitutes
The following riders were nominated as substitutes:
# Riders 2015 place GP Ch place66 Fredrik Lindgren — 452 Michael Jepsen Jensen 11 —21 Václav Milík 26 6
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
See also 2016 Individual Speedway Junior World Championship 2017 Speedway Grand Prix
References
External links