Britain’s Robert Lambert put on a commanding performance to confirm his participation in next season’s FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Championship (SGP) when he dropped just a single point on his way to victory in the FIM SGP World Championship Challenge at Terenzano in Italy on Saturday night.
Top four in Terenzano earn permanent places in 2027 FIM SGP series Robert Lambert drops just a single point on his way to victory in Italy Rohan Tungate, Kacper Woryna and Kim Nilsson also make the cut The twenty-eight-year-old – who currently sits third in the SGP title chase – earned his place behind the tapes at Terenzano with victory in the Qualifying round in Slovakia and he carried this fine form into Italy where he was joined in the all-important top four by Australia’s Rohan Tungate, Kacper Woryna from Poland and Swede Kim Nilsson who will all enjoy an automatic start in SGP in 2027.
Lambert got his worse score of the programme out of the way in his first Heat when he followed Denmark’s Frederik Jakobsen across the line and there were also wins in the opening block for Britain’s Chris Harris, Danish racer Michael Jepsen Jensen and Tungate.
Getting the second block under way with his first win of the night coming at the expense of Germany’s Kai Huckenbeck who won the Qualifying round in Great Britain, Lambert moved into joint second position with Jepsen Jensen – who dropped a point to Nilsson – after Tungate made it two from two when he led home Dominik Kubera from Poland and there was a win too for Jaimon Lidsey from Australia who failed to score in his opening Heat.
Poland’s Maciej Janowski, in as a replacement for injured Australian Jack Holder, then took a point from Tungate before Latvia’s Andzejs Lebedevs defeated Woryna, Lambert led home his compatriot Anders Rowe to claim his second win of the night – tying Tungate for the lead – and Huckenbeck came out on top of a fight with Kubera.
After scoring just a single point in his first two Heats, Lebedevs beat Jepsen Jensen to make it back-to-back victories and drag himself into contention following four blocks. Woryna then defeated Nilsson and Tungate led home Jakobsen before Lambert maintained his share of the lead with his third win of the programme coming ahead of Janowski.
With just one block of racing remaining the top three featured Lambert and Tungate on eleven points and Woryna on nine ahead of a four-way tie for the fourth and final qualifying place between Nilsson, Lebedevs, Jepsen Jensen and Janowski who were all on seven points.
With just one point from the previous three Heats, Harris was realistically out of contention, but the forty-three-year-old Long Track star signed off with a consolation victory from Jakobsen before Lambert led home Jepsen Jensen, Woryna and Tungate.
With no points to show from four Heats, American Luke Becker – winner of the Qualifying round in Germany – then took a consolation win of his own ahead of Lebedevs before Nilsson secured the final qualifying place when he won from Italian Michele Castagna.
With the vital top four decided, the Final followed the night’s formbook with Lambert taking victory from Tungate, Woryna and Nilsson.