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.^[1][2]

2016 Speedway Grand Prix
Season details
Dates	April 30 — October 22
Events	11
Riders	15 permanents 1 wild card(s) 2 track reserves
Heats	253 (in 11 events)
Winners
Champion	USA Greg Hancock
Runner-up	GBR Tai Woffinden
3rd place	POL Bartosz Zmarzlik
← 2015 Speedway Grand Prix 2017 →

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.^[3]

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,^[4] promoting Lindgren to a full-time place in the series.

Calendar

The 2016 season consisted of 11 events, one less than the 2015 series.^[5]

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

^[6]

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

See also

• 2016 Individual Speedway Junior World Championship
• 2017 Speedway Grand Prix