Speed and consistency proved to be key for Lukáš Hutla and Luca Bauer who led home the field at this afternoon’s Qualifying Round at Örnsköldsvik in Sweden for the 2025 FIM Ice Speedway World Championship powered by Anlas, Kineo and HKC Koopmann.
- Lukáš Hutla and Luca Bauer on top at Örnsköldsvik Qualifying Round
- Eight riders make the cut for 2025 FIM Ice Speedway World Championship
- Focus now shifts to Germany for Inzell opener in March
Neither Czech rider Hutla nor German-born Bauer, who was representing Italy, dropped out of the top two in any of their five Heats with three wins each seeing them end the meeting locked together at the top of the field on thirteen points apiece.
A fighting third on the day, super Swede Niclas Svensson set the early pace and won his first four Heats before a disqualification in his last race knocked him off the top, but by this point his work had been done and he was already through.
Austria’s experienced Martin Posch led the way following the programme’s opening Heat and he was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Finland’s Max Koivula, Svensson and his compatriot Filip Jäger who all got their challenges off to flying starts with early victories before Hutla and Bauer moved into contention with wins in block two.
Svensson remained one point clear following his second successive win and the son of Ice Speedway legend Stefan maintained his advantage with a third victory in a row as Hutla also won again, but Bauer dropped a point after chasing Hutla across the line.
With his fourth victory of the day, Svensson booked his place in the Finals as Hutla and Bauer also made certain of qualification with one Heat remaining, but behind them the pressure was building with five places still on the line and just two points separating fourth to eighth positions.
A fall in race two had seriously impacted Koivula’s ambitions, though after fighting back with a win and then a second-placed finish behind Svensson in their fourth Heat he was firmly back in the picture and he signed off with victory to ensure he progressed to the Finals.
Reality television star Jasper Iwema started slowly and began to build as the programme progressed and victory in his fourth Heat followed by a second in his last outing were good enough to put the thirty-five-year-old Dutchman through on the same total as Jäger who ended his afternoon with a second behind Bauer.
The remaining two qualification spots were filled by Sebastian Reitsma from the Netherlands and Germany’s Maximilian Niedermaier. Reitsma’s day got off to a bad start when he retired from his opening Heat, although the Dutchman dug deep and victory in his fifth Heat ahead of Iwema saw him tied with Niedermaier with the pair both going through by a single point.
Global focus now shifts to the Max Aicher Arena in Inzell in Germany on 14-16 March and the Thialf Ice Stadium in Heerenveen in the Netherlands on 4-6 April where today’s qualifiers will take on reigning champion Martin Haarahiltunen and the remainder of the 2025 FIM Ice Speedway World Championship contenders.
Both events will be streamed LIVE on FIM-MOTO.TV. For more details and to subscribe click here.