Swedish champion Kim Nilsson admits focusing on a few engines is helping him hit top form ahead of the Speedway European Championship opener in Zielona Gora on Saturday.
Nilsson raced to nine championship points as BST FIM Speedway GP of Sweden – Malilla wild card last Saturday – his best-ever SGP result at the Skrotfrag Arena.
He admits his decision to work with fewer engines is making all the difference after hitting top form in recent weeks – a run which saw him crowned Swedish champion, earning him the chance to star in Malilla. The 2026 FIM SGP Challenge finalist said: “Maybe I would have hoped for more than nine points in Malilla. You can always hope for more and you should really.
“I didn’t really know what to expect from the track. I have been there this year in the league, and I had a good meeting. I started on that bike in practice, and it didn’t feel good at all. I swapped bikes for the meeting, which felt a lot better.
“It has been feeling pretty okay all year for me, and in the last few weeks, it has clicked. I have changed a lot of stuff on the bikes, and I have some fresh engines.
“Maybe I have limited my engines a bit too. I am not choosing from eight different engines – I am just going with three. I think this pays off and when you have some decent meetings, it always builds confidence. You can never get enough confidence in speedway.”
Nilsson lines up in the SEC first round at Polish track Zielona Gora on Saturday. He was due to be series first reserve, but was drafted into the full line-up after Danish racer Rasmus Jensen was suspended by his national federation following an altercation with an official at the Danish Championship Final.
It’s a chance he is determined to take, with the European champion guaranteed a spot in the 2027 Speedway GP series.
He said: “I was a bit disappointed with not qualifying at the SEC Challenge because I was there, but I got hit in one race and dropped my chain. If that hadn’t happened, I would have been in.
“It was one of those nights that didn’t go my way. But in the end, I was picked as first reserve, which I am really happy about, and now, I will race.”