SPEEDWAY GP 2024 FIELD ANNOUNCED

Feature photo: Tai Woffinden and Dan Bewley action

The 2024 FIM Speedway Grand Prix line-up will feature 15 riders from nine different countries as competitors from Speedway GP nations Latvia, Germany and Czech Republic make their debuts.

The five permanent wild cards for next season have been revealed, with Great Britain icons Dan Bewley and triple Speedway GP World Champion Tai Woffinden returning to the series.

They are joined by three riders making their full-time Speedway GP debuts – Polish shooting star Dominik Kubera, Latvia’s first-ever Speedway GP regular Andzejs Lebedevs and German racer Kai Huckenbeck, who becomes his country’s first SGP full-timer since Martin Smolinski in 2014.

With Czech Republic star Jan Kvech entering the 2024 Speedway GP line-up alongside Lebedevs and Huckenbeck, it means nine countries – Poland, Sweden, Slovakia, Australia, Denmark, Great Britain, Latvia, Germany and Czech Republic – will all have full-time SGP representatives.

This year’s Holmgrens Bil FIM Speedway GP of Sweden – Malilla winner Bewley fell just four points short of automatic qualification for 2024, taking seventh spot in the final standings.

Meanwhile, Britain’s most successful speedway rider Woffinden missed the final two rounds due to injury after crashing out of the FIM Speedway GP of Great Britain – Cardiff with a broken hand on September 2.

Lebedevs is promoted from the first substitute spot in 2023. The 2017 Speedway European Championship winner also led his country to its first-ever world team final in the 2021 FIM Speedway of Nations as he takes the sport in his homeland to new heights.

Polish racer Kubera was part of his country’s Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup-winning side in Wroclaw on July 29, scoring nine points in the Final – a total bettered only by Zmarzlik. 

The two-time Speedway GP finalist, who finished second and third in the 2021 FIM Lublin Speedway GP double-header, has helped Polish club Lublin to back-to-back PGE Ekstraliga titles in 2022 and 2023, finishing seventh in this year’s average charts on 2.197 points per race. He also won bronze and silver medals in the 2019 and 2020 FIM Speedway Under-21 World Championships respectively.

German international Huckenbeck steps into the Speedway GP field after scoring a total of 11 points from three SGP rounds as third substitute rider and Wölk FIM German Speedway GP wild card. He also took seventh place in the Speedway European Championship on 30 points – tying with Kubera in sixth.

FIM Speedway Championships director Laura Manciet is pleased to see so many countries represented in the 2024 field.

She said: “As part of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports’ vision to make the sport more visible and grow our fan base across more nations, it can only help that nine different countries will have at least one Speedway GP rider to follow and support in 2024.

“We hope fans in each of these countries will follow their rider or riders’ progress throughout the season and this can only build greater interest in the sport in each of these nations.

“We congratulate all of the riders who are part of the 2024 Speedway GP line-up and wish them well for next year.”

FIM Race Director Phil Morris commented: “After keeping an almost unchanged Speedway GP line-up from 2022 to 2023, it was decided that we would bring some fresh faces into the Speedway GP series for 2024.

“It’s always difficult when you have to inform riders that they have not made the cut for next season. But at the same time, we hope our five newcomers will all take their chance to shine against the best in the world, and I congratulate all 15 riders who will compete in Speedway GP next season.”

FIM Track Racing Commission (CCP) director Armando Castagna added: “A key objective of the FIM is to involve as many countries as possible in our FIM Speedway World Championship events, so it is great to see nine nations represented in Speedway GP for 2024.

“We have five riders making their Speedway GP debuts and this will be a very special season for them, as well as the fans in Latvia, who gain their first SGP rider, and supporters in Germany and Czech Republic, who have waited a very long time to see one of their riders in Speedway GP on a regular basis.

“We look forward to working with all of our Speedway GP riders in 2024 and wish them all the best of luck.”