DOYLE WINS GP CHALLENGE – 2024 SPEEDWAY GP QUALIFICATION!

Aussie ace Jason Doyle, Slovak star Martin Vaculik and Polish racer Szymon Wozniak guaranteed their places in the 2024 FIM Speedway Grand Prix series after qualifying at the FIM GP Challenge in Gislaved on Saturday.

Doyle won a run-off with Vaculik for first place after the Speedway GP duo tied on 13 points. But both are certain of a spot in next season’s World Championship after cruising through the qualifier in Sweden.

They are joined by Speedway GP debutant Szymon Wozniak after the former Polish champion won his final heat to finish on 12 points. He can now look forward to the biggest season of his career so far.

Former Polish champion Wozniak admits Christmas has come early after realising his childhood dream of becoming an FIM Speedway Grand Prix rider in the FIM GP Challenge at Swedish track Gislaved on Saturday.

Current Speedway GP duo Jason Doyle of Australia and Martin Vaculik from Slovakia both guaranteed their places in the 2024 Speedway GP series after topping the score chart in the qualifying showdown on 13 points apiece, with Doyle winning a run-off for first place.

Meanwhile, third-placed Wozniak, who made it through on 12, breaks new ground as he makes his Speedway GP debut next year – a result that earns him the chance to face the world’s best riders on the sport’s finest racetracks.

The Gorzow rider is no stranger to facing speedway’s biggest names in Poland’s PGE Ekstraliga. And whatever the result as he takes on the biggest challenge of his career so far, he’s determined to enjoy every moment as a Speedway GP rider in 2024.

Wozniak, who has made three Speedway GP appearances so far, said:

“Believe me, it’s an amazing feeling. I am sure I cannot believe it yet. That was my top dream since I did my first lap on a speedway bike when I was seven years old. “I have worked really hard for 23 years to achieve that. I am lucky because I have met a lot of good people who have helped me a lot during those years. I just hope that the GP series in 2024 will be a good present for them – a thank you gift for all the good people I have met on my way. “I just want to say a big thanks to my family first, my mechanics, my team and all my sponsors. They have helped me a lot and this is our success together. “I have had a wild card for the GP in Gorzow three times. It’s not easy. But I will treat each GP round as a present – as a gift for me. I will not put any pressure on myself, and every single GP meeting will be a happy day for me, no matter the score and no matter the points. I will just enjoy it because I have worked so hard for such a long time to get that, believe me. “Of course, every time you come to the tapes, you want to win. But my goal for now is to enjoy every single minute in the GP. Qualification is one of the best things I have ever had. I will treat it as a Christmas gift.”

Wozniak admits he nearly didn’t start the FIM GP Challenge after crashing in Gorzow’s PGE Ekstraliga quarter final, first leg at home to Czestochowa last Sunday, suffering damage to both legs.

“To be honest, I felt a bit worse than I expected during practice,” he said. “After practice, I thought for a time, ‘Should I quit or not?’ I didn’t feel confident on the bike.

“Last week I had a bad crash. I hit the fence and I had a heavy impact with the handlebars hitting both of my legs. The right one got better and better day after day, but I had a bigger problem with the left one. I worked so hard during this week to improve my health and it’s amazing that this hard work from me, my family and my team has paid off.

“I just tried to change my racing style so that the injuries didn’t have as much of an effect as they did in practice. It started to work. 

“I just decided to have no pressure and no stress. I just did the best I could, I took the best from my bike and my health and that was enough to qualify for the GP. That’s such an amazing feeling.”

Doyle congratulated by FIM Speedway race director Phil Morris. PHOTO: Jarek Pabijan

FIM GP Challenge winner Doyle hopes to end 2023 in style after securing his spot in the series – whether or not he finishes in the Speedway GP World Championship’s top-six automatic qualification spots. Currently placed fourth in Speedway GP, a delighted Doyle said: “I feel very honoured to get back into the Grand Prix and I know the feeling that Szymon is having at the moment with getting into the Grand Prix for the first time.

“I really wanted to stay in the GPs, even if I didn’t get the results this year. At the moment, I am still in fourth place, so I am feeling okay. But this takes the pressure off, knowing I will be back for next year. We have three more GPs to go and at the moment, I am feeling a lot more confident with the engines I am riding. That puts a lot less pressure on myself and the team.

“We have changed all our engines to one engine tuner for this season. BVE (Bert van Essen) has been amazing for me this year. He’s a really great guy and it’s a great family. He’s one of the people I can trust with everything that’s working at the moment.

“I feel like I am riding well sometimes; not all the time, but everyone around the world only sees the GPs. The 16 best riders in the world are fighting for one position. It’s not always easy. I know it’s a tough road, but we are going to keep pushing.” 

Second-placed Vaculik also pledged to race the remainder of 2023 with no pressure as he steps up his fight for a Speedway GP World Championship medal.

Currently placed third in the Speedway GP standings, Vaculik said: “I am so happy. I have finally made it through the Challenge again and this tastes very good. I am so pleased this has happened today. Now I can focus on the Grand Prix for this year, we will fight for the medal and now we can fight with a completely clear head. That’s the main thing.

“This takes the pressure off for 100 percent. Everybody has these thoughts in the back of their heads – will I be in the Grand Prix or not? If you make it through the Challenge, you know you are in the Grand Prix.

“I want to go as high as possible with my team. We are in really great form now. Our engines are flying, so I would like to thank Mr (Ryszard) Kowalski and all his team. They have done a tremendous job, so it is all in my hands.”

Should Doyle or Vaculik retain their place in the 2023 Speedway GP World Championship’s top six, Robert Lambert, who was fourth in the FIM GP Challenge and is currently eighth in the Speedway GP standings, will be certain of a spot in SGP 2024 – even if he doesn’t reach this year’s Speedway GP top six.

If two of these three riders finish inside the automatic qualifying spots, Jan Kvech, who was fifth in Gislaved, will become Czech Republic’s first full-time Speedway GP rider since Lukas Dryml raced in the 2008 series.

And if Doyle, Vaculik and Lambert all finish inside the Speedway GP top six this year, Poland’s Przemyslaw Pawlicki will return to the series for the first time since 2018 after taking sixth spot on Saturday. 

FIM GP CHALLENGE SCORES: 1 Jason Doyle (Australia) 13+3, 2 Martin Vaculik (Slovakia) 13+2, 3 Szymon Wozniak (Poland), 12, 4 Robert Lambert (Great Britain) 10, 5 Jan Kvech (Czech Republic) 10, 6 Przemyslaw Pawlicki (Poland) 9, 7 Andzejs Lebedevs (Latvia) 9, 8 Luke Becker (USA) 9, 9 Jacob Thorssell (Sweden) 7, 10 Dimitri Berge (France) 6, 11 Piotr Pawlicki (Poland) 6, 12 Michael Jepsen Jensen (Denmark) 4, 13 Frederik Jakobsen (Denmark) 4, 14 Martin Smolinski (Germany) 2, 15 Oliver Berntzon (Sweden) 2, 16 Paco Castagna (Italy) 2, 17 Nicolas Covatti (Italy) 2, 18 Philip Hellstrom-Bangs DNR.