PETERBOROUGH have been given a licence to thrill in 2016.

That was the message from confident promoter Ged Rathbone when his T Balfe Construction Panthers faced the cameras earlier today during their annual Press & Practice event at the East of England Showground.

New recruits Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen, Nicklas Porsing and Tom Perry joined the returning quartet of captain Ulrich Ostergaard, Michael Palm Toft, Simon Lambert and Emil Grondal to complete media duties before taking to the Alwalton track for plenty of laps.

And Rathbone already likes what he sees from a team being tipped to challenge for Premier League honours.

He said: "The atmosphere around the place is already fantastic.

"The riders are all buzzing to be here and are excited about the prospect of riding for Peterborough.

"They are comfortable in each other's company and already working together in the pits.

"This team really excites me. It features seven riders who can all improve individually and if that happens, we'll be in with a great shout of challenging for trophies.

"We're all here to be successful, but we want to have fun and entertain the fans along the way."

It wasn't just the current Panthers team putting in the laps at the Showground today.

A host of top Danish stars, including Hans Andersen, Niels Kristian Iversen and Kenneth Bjerre, were also present as they continued their preparations for the 2016 season.

All three of those men will be back on Sunday when the tapes go up on the new campaign with Ostergaard's '10 Year Spectacular' testimonial meeting (2pm start).

Before then, Ostergaard and Grondal are in action tomorrow night (Saturday) in the Ben Fund Bonanza at King's Lynn (6pm).

The Peterborough 'T Balfe' Construction Panthers are, back row, left to right, Simon Lambert, Tom Stokes, Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen, Emil Grondal, Tom Perry, front row, Nicklas Porsing, Ulrich Ostergaard, Michael Palm Toft.
Picture supplied by JEFF HIGGOTT