He won the series by nine points from 2015 champion Woffinden, who finished second ahead of debutant Bartosz Zmarzlik.

He eventually finished fifth, behind Australian compatriot and 2012 world champion Chris Holder, who won his home Grand Prix in Melbourne (his first SGP win since 2012) to move in fourth in the standings.

The title lifted Hancock to sixth on the all-time list, joining Ivan Mauger and Tony Rickardsson (6 each), Ove Fundin (5) and Barry Briggs and Hans Nielsen (4 each) as riders to win at least four individual world championships.

For the 2016 season there were 15 permanent riders, joined at each Grand Prix by one wild card and two track reserves.

[3] The following riders were nominated as substitutes: Fredrik Lindgren replaced the injured Jarosław Hampel for the first six rounds.