2016 Speedway Grand Prix
# 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 (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 series |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 108 | Tai Woffinden | 1 | — | 5th | 2010, 2011, 2013–2015 |
| 45 | Greg Hancock | 2 | — | 22nd | 1995–2015 |
| 3 | Nicki Pedersen | 3 | — | 16th | 2000, 2001–2015 |
| 88 | Niels Kristian Iversen | 4 | — | 6th | 2004–2005, 2006, 2008, 2009–2010, 2013–2015 |
| 69 | Jason Doyle | 5 | — | 2nd | 2015 |
| 55 | Matej Žagar | 6 | — | 6th | 2003–2005, 2006–2007, 2008–2009, 2011, 2013–2015 |
| 71 | Maciej Janowski | 7 | — | 2nd | 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015 |
| 23 | Chris Holder | 8 | — | 7th | 2010–2015 |
| 95 | Bartosz Zmarzlik | 18 | 1 | 1st | 2012–2015 |
| 777 | Piotr Pawlicki Jr. | 19 | 2 | 1st | 2015 |
| 37 | Chris Harris | 13 | 3 | 10th | 2003, 2007–2012, 2013, 2014–2015 |
| 25 | Peter Kildemand | 9 | 5 | 1st | 2012–2015 |
| 100 | Andreas Jonsson | 10 | — | 15th | 2001, 2002–2015 |
| 33 | Jarosław Hampel | 16 | — | 11th | 2000–2002, 2004–2007, 2008–2009, 2010–2015 |
| 85 | 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 place |
| - | - | - | - |
| 66 | Fredrik Lindgren | — | 4 |
| 52 | 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.

| Round | Date | City and venue | Winner | Runner-up | 3rd placed | 4th placed | Results |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | April 30 | Krško , Slovenia Matija Gubec Stadium | Peter Kildemand | Jason Doyle | Chris Holder | Tai Woffinden | results |
| 2 | May 14 | Warsaw , Poland Stadion Narodowy | Tai Woffinden | Greg Hancock | Matej Žagar | Chris Holder | results |
| 3 | June 11 | Horsens , Denmark CASA Arena | Maciej Janowski | Chris Holder | Tai Woffinden | Nicki Pedersen | results |
| 4 | June 25 | Prague , Czech Republic Markéta Stadium | Jason Doyle | Greg Hancock | Chris Harris | Niels Kristian Iversen | results |
| 5 | July 9 | Cardiff , Great Britain Principality Stadium | Antonio Lindbäck | Tai Woffinden | Bartosz Zmarzlik | Greg Hancock | results |
| 6 | August 14 | Målilla , Sweden G&B Stadium | Greg Hancock | Jason Doyle | Piotr Pawlicki Jr. | Chris Holder | results |
| 7 | August 27 | Gorzów , Poland Edward Jancarz Stadium | Jason Doyle | Tai Woffinden | Chris Holder | Bartosz Zmarzlik | results |
| 8 | September 10 | Teterow , Germany Bergring Arena | Jason Doyle | Bartosz Zmarzlik | Greg Hancock | Niels Kristian Iversen | results |
| 9 | September 24 | Stockholm , Sweden Friends Arena | Jason Doyle | Chris Holder | Fredrik Lindgren | Matej Žagar | results |
| 10 | October 1 | Toruń , Poland Rose Motoarena | Niels Kristian Iversen | Greg Hancock | Bartosz Zmarzlik | Matej Žagar | results |
| 11 | October 22 | Melbourne , Australia Etihad Stadium | Chris Holder | Tai Woffinden | Bartosz Zmarzlik | Antonio Lindbäck | results |

## Final Classification

* Qualifies for next season's Grand Prix series
* Full-time Grand Prix rider
* Wild card, track reserve or qualified reserve

| Pos. | Rider | Points | SVN | POL | DEN | CZE | GBR | SWE | PL2 | GER | SCA | PL3 | AUS |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | (45) Greg Hancock (C) | 139 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 18 | 10 | 17 | 11 | 15 | 9 | 16 | 5 |
| | (108) Tai Woffinden | 130 | 10 | 14 | 15 | 9 | 15 | 8 | 15 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 15 |
| | (95) Bartosz Zmarzlik | 128 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 15 |
| 4 | (23) Chris Holder | 126 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 15 | 8 | 13 | 11 | 17 |
| 5 | (69) Jason Doyle | 123 | 13 | 5 | 7 | 17 | 12 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 0 | – |
| 6 | (777) Piotr Pawlicki Jr. | 99 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 8 |
| 7 | (85) Antonio Lindbäck | 93 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 18 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| 8 | (88) Niels Kristian Iversen | 91 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 11 | 7 | 15 | 12 |
| 9 | (71) Maciej Janowski | 90 | 10 | 10 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 5 |
| 10 | (55) Matej Žagar | 90 | 4 | 14 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 15 | 11 |
| 11 | (66) Fredrik Lindgren | 88 | 7 | 12 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 11 | 6 | 14 | 9 | 6 |
| 12 | (25) Peter Kildemand | 68 | 15 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 13 | (3) Nicki Pedersen | 62 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 7 | – | – | – |
| 14 | (100) Andreas Jonsson | 53 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 7 | 7 |
| 15 | (37) Chris Harris | 40 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 16 | (52) Michael Jepsen Jensen | 31 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7 | 4 | 10 | 10 |
| 17 | (16) Patryk Dudek | 8 | – | 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 17 | (16) Martin Smolinski | 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | – | – | – |
| 17 | (16) Paweł Przedpełski | 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | – |
| 20 | (16) Danny King | 7 | – | – | – | – | 7 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 20 | (16) Krzysztof Kasprzak | 7 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7 | – | – | – | – |
| 22 | (16) Anders Thomsen | 5 | – | – | 5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 22 | (17) Kim Nilsson | 5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | – | – |
| 24 | (16) Peter Ljung | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 25 | (16) Václav Milík Jr. | 3 | – | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 26 | (17) Tobias Kroner | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | – | – |
| 26 | (16) Sam Masters | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 |
| 26 | (17) Brady Kurtz | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 |
| 26 | (19) Jack Holder | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 |
| 26 | (17) Nick Škorja | 2 | 1 | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 30 | (16) Denis Štojs | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 30 | (17) Daniel Kaczmarek | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 30 | (16) Jacob Thorssell | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – |
| 30 | (17) Kacper Woryna | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – |
| 35 | (18) Matic Ivačič | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 35 | (18) Oskar Bober | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 | – |
| 35 | (18) Max Fricke | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 |
| Pos. | Rider | Points | SVN | POL | DEN | CZE | GBR | SWE | PL2 | GER | SCA | PL3 | AUS |
