2020 Speedway Grand Prix

The 2020 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 26th season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 75th FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the 20th series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company

2020 Speedway Grand Prix
Season details
DatesAugust 28 - October 3
Events8
Cities4
Countries2
Riders15 permanents
1 wild card(s)
2 track reserves
Heats184 (in 8 events)
Winners
Champion POL Bartosz Zmarzlik
Runner-up GBR Tai Woffinden
3rd place SWE Fredrik Lindgren

A new points system was introduced with overall positions deciding the number of championship points a rider scored from a Grand Prix (GP), and points scored in each individual heat used to determine a rider's progress in a GP.

Bartosz Zmarzlik was the defending champion, having won the 2019 Speedway Grand Prix series, and he successfully retained his title in 2020 by winning four of the eight rounds. Former three-time champion Tai Woffinden finished second after winning a run-off with Fredrik Lindgren. Maciej Janowski, Leon Madsen and Jason Doyle completed the top six, thus earning places in the 2021 series.

Qualification

For the 2020 season there were 15 permanent riders, who were joined at each Grand Prix by one wild card and two track reserves.

The top eight riders from the 2019 championship qualified automatically.[1] These 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 2019 season.[2]

Qualified riders

#Riders2019 placeGP Ch placeAppearancePrevious appearances in series
95 Bartosz Zmarzlik15th2012–2015, 2016–2019
30 Leon Madsen22nd2013, 2019
89 Emil Sayfutdinov39th2009–2013, 2017–2019
66 Fredrik Lindgren411th2004, 2006–2007, 2008–2014, 2016, 2017–2019
54 Martin Vaculík545th2012, 2013, 2017–2019
71 Maciej Janowski66th2008, 2012, 2014, 2015–2019
69 Jason Doyle76th2015–2019
692 Patryk Dudek84th2016, 2017–2019
55 Matej Žagar9110th2003–2005, 2006–2007, 2008–2009, 2011, 2013–2019
88 Niels-Kristian Iversen1029th2004–2005, 2006, 2008, 2009–2010, 2013–2017, 2018, 2019
46 Max Fricke1631st2016-2017, 2019
222 Artem Laguta114th2011, 2018–2019
85 Antonio Lindbäck1210th2004, 2005–2007, 2009–2010, 2011–2013, 2015, 2016–2017, 2019
108 Tai Woffinden139th2010, 2011, 2013–2019
155 Mikkel Michelsen17141st2015, 2018–2019

Michelsen was handed a spot after initial wildcard pick Greg Hancock announced his retirement from the sport and first reserve Martin Smolinski withdrew due to injury.[3]

Qualified substitutes

The following riders were nominated as substitutes:

#Riders2019 placeGP Ch place
115 Bartosz Smektała18
105 Anders Thomsen5
20 Pontus Aspgren6
96 Dimitri Bergé

Calendar

The 2020 season originally consisted of 10 events, the same number as in 2019.[4] The Slovenian round had been replaced by a new round in Russia. The British Grand Prix was originally scheduled to be held on July 18, but was cancelled on June 1. The first round in Warsaw was postponed to August 28, the Czech Grand Prix was postponed to September 19 & the German Grand Prix was postponed to a unknown date, all due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rounds in Hallstavik and Målilla were cancelled on June 18.[5] On July 29 a final revised calendar was published by the organisers of the series, with a total of 8 rounds; 6 in Poland and 2 in the Czech Republic.

RoundDateCity and venueWinnerRunner-up3rd placed4th placedResults
1 August 28 Wrocław, Poland
Olympic Stadium
Artem Laguta Maciej Janowski Fredrik Lindgren Tai Woffinden results
2 August 29 Wrocław, Poland
Olympic Stadium
Maciej Janowski Tai Woffinden Bartosz Zmarzlik Fredrik Lindgren results
3 September 11 Gorzów, Poland
Edward Jancarz Stadium
Bartosz Zmarzlik Jason Doyle Fredrik Lindgren Leon Madsen results
4 September 12 Gorzów, Poland
Edward Jancarz Stadium
Fredrik Lindgren Leon Madsen Jason Doyle Emil Sayfutdinov results
5 September 18 Prague, Czech Republic
Markéta Stadium
Bartosz Zmarzlik Tai Woffinden Martin Vaculík Emil Sayfutdinov results
6 September 19 Prague, Czech Republic
Markéta Stadium
Bartosz Zmarzlik Tai Woffinden Jason Doyle Fredrik Lindgren results
7 October 2 Toruń, Poland
Rose Motoarena
Max Fricke Maciej Janowski Tai Woffinden Bartosz Zmarzlik results
8 October 3 Toruń, Poland
Rose Motoarena
Bartosz Zmarzlik Maciej Janowski Artem Laguta Fredrik Lindgren 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 POL
PL2
PL3
PL4
CZE
CZ2
PL5
PL6
(95) Bartosz Zmarzlik (C) 133 1116201220201420
(108) Tai Woffinden 117 1418111018181612
(66) Fredrik Lindgren 117 1614162012141114
4 (71) Maciej Janowski 107 1820109591818
5 (30) Leon Madsen 89 1261418911910
6 (69) Jason Doyle 87 6218161116711
7 (222) Artem Laguta 84 201285105816
8 (89) Emil Sayfutdinov 81 1057141410129
9 (54) Martin Vaculík 78 9312111612105
10 (46) Max Fricke 64 2104888204
11 (55) Matej Žagar 46 84963763
12 (692) Patryk Dudek 39 58217646
13 (88) Niels-Kristian Iversen 32 311644211
14 (155) Mikkel Michelsen 32 47526332
15 (85) Antonio Lindbäck 22 11132428
16 (16) Gleb Chugunov 16 79
17 (16) Jack Holder 12 57
18 (16) Anders Thomsen 10 37
19 (17) Eduard Krčmář 1 10
20 (16) Václav Milík 1 01
21 (17) Rafał Karczmarz 0 00
22 (18) Wiktor Jasiński 0 0
23 (18) Przemysław Liszka 0 0
24 (17) Michał Curzytek 0 0
25 (18) Jan Kvěch 0 0
Pos. Rider Points POL
PL2
PL3
PL4
CZE
CZ2
PL5
PL6

See also

  • 2020 Individual Speedway Junior World Championship

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.