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Speedway Grand Prix 2023: Live stream, TV coverage, schedule and riders as Bartosz Zmarzlik defends title
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Published 27/04/2023 at 12:52 GMT+1
Speedway Grand Prix returned for 2023 on April 29 after a long winter break, with Bartosz Zmarzlik out to defend his crown. The Pole has won three of the last four titles but has faced stiff competition from Sweden's Fredrik Lindgren in particular. Entering the closing stages of the season, the pair can barely be separated in the standings, so who will come out on top?
An der Spitze der Welt: Zmarzlik und seine drei WM-Titel
Video credit: TNT Sports
The 2023 Speedway Grand Prix season has been another classic, with defending champion Bartosz Zmarzlik and Sweden's Fredrik Lindgren battling it out for top honours.
Zmarzlik came into the new campaign as the clear favourite after his consistency helped him prevail in the second half of 2022 and wrap up his third title in four years with a round to spare.
Leon Madsen finished runner-up for the second time in his career, with Maciej Janowski achieving a career-best finish in third.
It was expected they would put themselves in the mix for glory again, but it has become a two-horse race with a round to go.
Where can I watch Speedway Grand Prix?
Eurosport and discovery+ is the home of the FIM Speedway Grand Prix in 2023, with live coverage of every round.
Every second of the event’s action, including qualifying, can be watched live-on-demand on discovery+ and Eurosport’s digital platforms with live coverage of the heats, semi-finals and final on Eurosport 2.
The action began in Gorican on April 29 and concludes on September 30 in Torun, Poland.
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Watch Zmarzlik lift world championship trophy in front of home crowd
Video credit: TNT Sports
Speedway Grand Prix 2023 Calendar
This season features ten rounds, with the opening five – Gorican, Warsaw, Prague, Teterow and Gorzoe – keeping their places on the schedule. Latvia joined the Speedway Grand Prix calendar for the first time on August 12.
Wroclaw was dropped from the Speedway Grand Prix calendar to host the much-anticipated return of the Speedway World Cup from July 25-29. It’s the first time the World Cup has taken place since 2017.
Another change saw the event in Malilla moved to July, while the British round in Cardiff took place on September 2 at the Principality Stadium.
Torun is the destination for the final showdown on September 30.
Speedway Grand Prix format
Fifteen permanent riders and one wild card go head-to-head at each round, with qualifying deciding the all-important starting gate picks. The fastest rider gets first choice, down to 16th place who gets last choice.
Each rider takes part in five heats, with points given out as per the result of each heat.
The winner of the heat gets three points, second place is awarded two points, third place one point and fourth gets nothing.
After the 20 heats, the top eight in the event standings will progress to the semi-finals. The top two in each semi-final progress to the final.
Victory in the final means you win the event and get the full 20 championship points. Second place gets 18 points, third is rewarded with 16 and then there’s a sliding scale for the following positions of 14-12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0.
Confusing? Once you watch a few events, it’s quite easy to understand.
Speedway Grand Prix riders 2023
The top six from last year’s championship automatically qualified to ride in this year’s championship.
Tai Woffinden and Jason Doyle were selected by the Speedway Grand Prix commission while Kim Nilsson won the FIM GP Challenge in Glasgow and is joined by Jack Holder and Max Fricke from Australia.
Patryk Dudek, Martin Vaculik, Mikkel Michelsen and Anders Thomsen also returned for this season.
Latvia’s Andzejs Lebedevs was handed the first reserve spot for 2023, meaning he was first in line anytime one of the 15 regular riders were forced out of a round due to injury, illness or other reasons.
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Stream every round of the 2023 Speedway Grand Prix season live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com.
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