Haarahiltunen World Champion – Vice Niedermaier / Ice Speedway GP

Ahead of the fierce race for the 2024 World Cup title, Martin Haarahiltunen inspected the ice at the Thialf Stadium in Heerenveen and started walking around the ice circle. “I have to get to the final and anything can happen there,” the Swede gave an insight into his emotional world before the race “I’m a little worried, but at the same time I’m focused and I’ll do my best.”

The two title contenders, Martin Haarahiltunen and Max Niedermaier, met in Heat 2. Both started well and the Swede, who had started on the inside, moved ahead of Niedermaier. The defending champion took the race win, the German came third.

In the fifth race, Haarahiltunen went well again, but was caught by Finn Heikki Huusko and ended up in the bales. Despite several attempts, the Swede could not catch his bike on the starting line and ended up in the barrier.

Things went well for Niedermaier in his second run. After the start, the Bavarian found his fastest line again and drove to his first race win.

With another race win in the third round, the Bavarian got himself back on track for the final, with Haarahiltunen losing out to teammate Stefan Svensson with clutch problems. In the fourth race, Haarahiltunen initially crossed the finish line in second place behind Aki Ala-Riihimäki, but after the start the Finn drove over the inner barrier of the track in a very difficult maneuver against Haarahiltunen and was separated, which gave the Swede victory of the race. .

In the following period, Niedermaier was challenged again. He was able to take the lead after the start, but had Franz Zorn breathing down his neck and ended up on the grass at the gate, thus losing valuable points.

In his final heat, Haarahiltunen raised the bar again with a race win, after which Niedermaier struggled again to win the 19th race and follow the Swede into the all-important final.

Theoretically, there was still a small chance to win the race, but when Heikki Huusko and Jimmy Olsén crossed the finish line at 4:04 pm to book their place in the final, Niedermaier was out of the final again. At the same time, Haarahiltunen was the world champion for the third time in a row. Even if Heikki Huusko had won, Max Niedermaier could no longer take the silver medal.

In the final, Haarahiltunen moved from the outside and was caught by Finn Huusko. The two fellers also pulled Jimmy Olsen into the barriers. Fortunately, after seconds of anxiety, all the main characters of the accident were able to return to the paddock and the repetition began without pain and suffering. Svensson used all his experience in his 40th international year and won ahead of Olsen and Huusko, who won the World Championship bronze and his third place.

“It was a big drama today. In the final I had a puncture and a bad accident,” said former and new world champion Martin Haarahiltunen. “It wasn’t my best race today, but I’m still world champion and very happy.”

“I won silver today because winning gold would have been more difficult and I would have had to reach the final and Haarahiltunen would have had to miss the final,” said Max Niedermaier, runner-up 2024, happy despite losing the title. and also looking ahead to the 16th race and falling behind, “I really wasn’t going that fast and then I let off the gas a little bit and then it put me away. Maybe that’s the real problem.”

Markus Jell again struggled with the technology and had to change his bike at the same time. In the end, he finished fourteenth and ended the 2024 season in ninth place. Maximilian Niedermaier stayed close to the World Championship driver on the second day of the race in Heerenveen, but was unable to score any points.

Results 4th Ice Speedway World Championship Final, Heerenveen/NL:

1. Stefan Svensson (S), 20 World Cup points/ 12 run points
2. Jimmy Olsen (S), 18/12
3. Heikki Huusko (FIN), 16/13
4. Martin Haarahiltunen (S), 14/11
5. Max Koivula (FIN), 12/11
6.. Max Niedermaier (D), 11/10
7. Franz Zorn (A), 10/8
8. Jimmy Hornell (S), 9/8
9. Charlie Ebner (A), 8/7
10. Jasper Iwema (NL), 7/6
11. Andrej Divis (CZ), 6/6
12. Aki Ala-Riihimäki (FIN), 5/5
13. Sebastian Reitsma (NL), 4/4
14. Markus Jell (D), ¾
15. Filip Jäger (S), 2/2
16. Maximilian Niedermaier (D), 1/0

End: 1. Svensson, 2. Olsen, 3. Huusko, 4. Haarahiltunen

The final standings of the 2024 Ice Speedway World Championship:

1. Martin Haarahiltunen (S), 70 points
2. Max Niedermaier (D), 63
3. Heikki Huusko (FIN), 58
4. Aki Ala-Riihimäki (FIN), 53
5. Stefan Svensson (S), 53
6. Jimmy Olsen (S), 47
7. Max Koivula (FIN), 41
8. Franz Zorn (A), 39
9. Markus Jell (D), 30
10. Jimmy Hörnell (S), 28
11. Charlie Ebner (A), 21
12. Jasper Iwema (NL), 21
13. Andrej Divis (CZ), 19
14. Sebastian Reitsma (NL), 10
15. Lukas Hutla (CZ), 9
16. Hans Weber (D), 7
17. Christoph Kirchner (D), 4
18. Filip Jäger (S), 4
19. Benedikt Monn (D), 3
20. Franz Mayerbüchler (D), 3
21. Maximilian Niedermaier (D), 1