Speedway Grand Prix: 'I want to get to the final' - Robert Lambert targets glory at 'electric' Cardiff meeting
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Updated 12/08/2022 at 06:16 GMT
“We’ll go there to perform and take in the atmosphere in the right moments. And, yeah, go there to do a job, and the goal is to get to the semi-finals and final.” Robert Lambert is looking at the latest round of the Speedway Grand Prix in Cardiff as a springboard to success for the rest of the season. Watch the 2022 Speedway Grand Prix live and ad-free on discovery+.
'The atmosphere is going to be amazing' - Woffinden excited as SGP returns to Cardiff
Robert Lambert is eyeing more final appearances and even a podium finish at the Speedway Grand Prix as he remains optimistic for the remainder of the season – starting this weekend in Cardiff.
The SGP arrives in Great Britain for round six at the Principality Stadium with five races left to decide the championship.
Brit Lambert, currently ninth in the standings, is competing in his second SGP season and is looking for a top six finish to qualify for a third next year.
“I think it's going okay,” he said of his season so far in an exclusive interview with Eurosport. “I wouldn't say it's gone great, I wouldn't say it's gone poorly. You know, keep optimistic about things. A lot can happen in the last rounds of Grand Prix.
“My goal is still the same as the beginning of this season. I want to qualify for next year. I got that opportunity last year with a wildcard and I want to prove to everyone that I can hold my own in the Grand Prix and that's the level I want to be at.
“That's how things are going at the moment, and we still keep taking every meeting as another meet and then step by step and we'll see where it leaves us at the end of the year.”
Along with Tai Woffinden and Dan Bewley, Lambert is among three British riders taking to the track in Cardiff, and while he is relishing the prospect riding a home race, he insists he won’t allow the ‘electric’ atmosphere to be a distraction.
“There's atmosphere in the stadium,” he said. “There's atmosphere in the city, it’s pretty compact. And, you know, thousands and thousands of people walking the streets, cheering and blowing horns. It’s pretty electric.
“But when we're down in the pits, that’s work time and focus. So yeah, it’s going to be amazing to be back there."
As first reserve replacing Greg Hancock in the 2019 race, Lambert won one heat and collected six points as he finished 11th, something he aims to improve on this time around.
He said: “I haven't been there for three years now, and the last meeting I had there in 2019, we had a few mechanical problems, and then a bit of misfortune with an exclusion.
“We’ll go there to perform and take in the atmosphere in the right moments. And, yeah, go there to do a job and the goal is to get to the semi-finals and final.”
Lambert has one final appearance and two semi-final appearances from five races so far this season.
His sole appearance in the final four, however, saw him miss out on a podium place as he finished last in the deciding race in Tetrow, Germany.
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Despite this, he says he is setting his sights on "bigger and greater" things in the second half of the season.
“I think staying consistent and how I've been already,” he said on his approach for the upcoming races. “If we're making semi-finals in the rest of the SGP rounds then I'm going to be happy with that but at the same time, I want to get to the final.
“I've had one experience in the finals and didn't really make an impact on that. So I was disappointed after the meeting. Like I felt like it was worse a meeting than it actually was when you looked on points wise, who's ended the meeting with the last place in the final.
“But it was my first final and that was an accomplishment in itself. But we're looking for bigger and greater things. So yeah, hopefully. And yeah, hopefully we want to go on to the podium before the seasons out.”
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Watch the 2022 Speedway Grand Prix live and ad-free on discovery+ with live race action also on Eurosport 2.
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