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
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.
The series was dominated by Polish venues with six of the eight races held in Poland. 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. 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.
Qualified riders
# Riders 2019 place GP Ch place Appearance Previous appearances in series95 Bartosz Zmarzlik 1— 5th 2012–2015, 2016–201930 Leon Madsen 2 —2nd 2013, 201989 Emil Sayfutdinov 3 — 9th 2009–2013, 2017–201966 Fredrik Lindgren 4 — 11th 2004, 2006–2007, 2008–2014, 2016, 2017–2019 54 Martin Vaculík 5 4 5th 2012, 2013, 2017–201971 Maciej Janowski 6 — 6th 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015–201969 Jason Doyle 7— 6th 2015–2019692 Patryk Dudek 8 — 4th 2016, 2017–201955 Matej Žagar 91 10th 2003–2005, 2006–2007, 2008–2009, 2011, 2013–201988 Niels-Kristian Iversen 102 9th 2004–2005, 2006, 2008, 2009–2010, 2013–2017, 2018, 201946 Max Fricke 163 1st 2016-2017, 2019222 Artem Laguta 11— 4th 2011, 2018–201985 Antonio Lindbäck 12— 10th 2004, 2005–2007, 2009–2010, 2011–2013, 2015, 2016–2017, 2019108 Tai Woffinden 13— 9th 2010, 2011, 2013–2019155 Mikkel Michelsen• 17 14 1st 2015, 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.
Qualified substitutes
The following riders were nominated as substitutes:
# Riders 2019 place GP Ch place115 Bartosz Smektała 18 —105 Anders Thomsen — 520 Pontus Aspgren — 696 Dimitri Bergé — —
Calendar
The 2020 season originally consisted of 10 events, the same number as in 2019. The Slovenian round had been replaced by a new round in Russia. The British Grand Prix was originally scheduled to be held on 18 July, but was cancelled on 1 June. The first round in Warsaw was postponed to 28 August, the Czech Grand Prix was postponed to 19 September and the German Grand Prix was postponed to an unknown date, all due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rounds in Hallstavik and Målilla were cancelled on 18 June. On 29 July 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.
Final Classification
See also 2020 Individual Speedway Junior World Championship
References
External links