Great Britain captain Robert Lambert admits the chance to race for FIM Speedway World Cup gold in Warsaw is the ultimate incentive to win WWK Schwaiger & Partner FIM SWC Semi-Final 1 – Landshut on Friday evening.
The Lions launch their world-title challenge at the OneSolar Arena, taking on hosts Germany, Czech Republic and Ukraine, with the winner joining Poland, Australia and the Semi-Final 2 winner in the BOLL FIM SWC Final – Warsaw at PGE Narodowy on August 29.
The action comes just 24 hours before the FIM Speedway Grand Prix series launches with the WWK Schwaiger & Partner FIM Speedway GP of Germany – Landshut on Saturday.
Lambert competes in both events and is joined in the GB line-up by his fellow two-time FIM Speedway of Nations world-title winners Dan Bewley and Tom Brennan, with Landshut rider Leon Flint making his SWC debut on his home track. The team is completed by 16-year-old debutant Will Cairns.
Having started his professional racing career in Germany at the tender age of 14, Lambert knows the challenge posed by the hosts better than most as they track former SGP star Kai Huckenbeck, SON2 world champions Norick Blodorn and Mario Hausl, veteran Kevin Wolbert and Lars Skupien.
A young Czech team featuring former Speedway GP star Jan Kvech, 2025 SGP2 star Adam Bubba Bednar, the hard-charging Vaclav Milik, in-form Plymouth rider Daniel Klima and young gun Adam Nejezchleba is also being tipped to fight for victory.
The field is completed by a history-making Ukrainian team, racing in their first SWC Semi-Final, led by their brand-new Speedway GP star, SGP2 world champion Nazar Parnitskyi. He is joined by Marko Levishyn, Stanislav Melnychuk, Andrii Rozaliuk and Roman Kupustin.
While Lambert knows it will be no easy task for the Brits on Friday evening, he is determined to lead his side into the BOLL FIM SWC Final - Warsaw – a huge event that will take place in front of around 50,000 fans at PGE Narodowy.
Lambert said: “Dan and I have had experience on the Landshut track before, and I know Leon rides here in the Polish league. Hopefully we can do the job in Landshut and get us to Warsaw. Having the Final in Warsaw is such a massive event. The World Cup doesn’t come around every year. Being in that Final would be incredible, so hopefully we can push forward in Landshut and achieve that.
“Racing here is probably going to favour the Germans a little bit, but any other team could have a good day, pop out and ruin it for us. That’s how it always is in these meetings. You can’t take anything for granted.
“We had a bad year at the SON in 2025, finishing fifth, so I hope we can regain some momentum this year. It would be great for us and the GB team to be able to go to an event like Warsaw. It’s going to be huge.”
Lambert’s GB teammate and Speedway GP rival Bewley is also relishing the prospect of Friday’s Semi-Final showdown in Landshut, having raced to second place at the 2025 WWK Schwaiger & Partner FIM Speedway GP of Germany – Landshut.
He enthused: “I love any track with long straights. Landshut is pretty cool. The World Cup is by far my favourite meeting. Hopefully we can go well in Landshut because I think it would be pretty special to go to Warsaw.”
German team captain Huckenbeck believes his side has what it takes to overcome the competition and follow up the nation’s SON2 under-21 success in 2025 by storming through to their first modern-day FIM SWC Final.
The former Landshut rider said: “The World Cup is always a great event. I love the World Cup, and I think we have a pretty good team this year. Hopefully we can make it to the Final.
“I think we all know the track in Landshut pretty well, even though the last two GPs there weren’t really good for myself. There are two Landshut riders in the team in Mario and Kevin, and Norick and I raced here as well, so we will see what happens.”
WWK SCHWAIGER & PARTNER FIM SWC SEMI-FINAL 1 – LANDSHUT
STARTING LINE-UPS:
RED – GREAT BRITAIN
1. Dan Bewley
2. Robert Lambert ©
3. Tom Brennan
4. Leon Flint
5. Will Cairns
Team Manager: Oliver Allen
BLUE – CZECH REPUBLIC
1. Adam Bubba Bednar
2. Daniel Klima
3. Vaclav Milik
4. Adam Nejezchleba
5. Jan Kvech ©
Team Manager: Zdenek Schneiderwind
WHITE – UKRAINE
1. Stanislav Melnychuk
2. Andrii Rozaliuk
3. Roman Kapustin
4. Nazar Parnitskyi
5. Marko Levishyn ©
Team Manager: Sergii Golovnia
YELLOW – GERMANY
1. Norick Blodorn
2. Mario Hausl
3. Kevin Wolbert
4. Lars Skupien
5. Kai Huckenbeck ©
Team Managers: Mathias Bartz / Sascha Dorner