ROHAN Tungate will be a full-time Grand Prix rider in 2027.
The Australian finished runner-up to Britain's Robert Lambert in the SGP Challenge in Italy on Saturday night to secure his place in next year's GP field. Poland's Kacper Woryna and Swedish Champion Kim Nilsson claimed the other two qualifying positions and there is still a chance that Britain's Chris Harris could make a remarkable return to the Grand Prix. The King's Lynn and Glasgow rider scored seven points in Terenzano to finish in eighth place but of the seven riders who finished ahead of him, four – Lambert, Woryna, Andzejs Lebedevs and Michael Jepsen Jensen – are current SGP riders. If all four finished in the top seven in this season's World Championship to secure an automatic berth for next year, Harris would move up the pecking order into a qualifying position, as would Denmark's Frederik Jakobsen who finished one place above Harris in Terenzano. Tungate has one previous GP appearance to his name as a reserve at the 2017 Australian round in Melbourne – in which he won both of his two races! “I am just going to prepare the best I can for next year," he said. "I have good engines from Ryszard Kowalski – we have a good relationship. I just need to prepare myself as best I can with my team and organisation and take it race by race, GP by GP, and we’ll see what happens.” • Full coverage from Terenzano in this week's Speedway Star – on sale on Thursday. Picture: JAREK PABIJAN
