FIM World Sidecar Championship. Grobnik, Croatia. Qualifying.With two qualifying sessions this morning in bright but cool conditions, Brothers Ben and Tom Birchall on their “Birchall Racing” LCR, Yamaha, had no problems in securing another pole position. They set a fastest time of 1:33.918 in Q1. They had no machine problems at all, and they set the fastest time in Q2 albeit slower than Q1. Both Ben and Tom are really pleased with how things have gone so far this weekend.
Second fastest, and very happy with their performance is John Holden and Mark Wilkes on their “Barnes/Silicone Racing” LCR, Kawasaki. They also had no problems with their machine. Third place went to Pekka Paivarinta and Kirsi Kainulainen with a time of 1:36.437 on their “44-Racing” LCR, Honda. Their machine too was all good.
Bennie Streuer and Kevin Rousseau with their “Team Streuer” LCR, Honda will head the second row on the grid with a time of 1:36.467. They had a small fuel problem in Q1 but it did not affect their time for their grid position. Alongside Streuer and Rousseau on row two will be the “Rookie” team of Lewis Blackstock and Patrick Rosney on their “Dave Holden Racing” LCR, Suzuki. The team is really happy with this and hope to have a good race.
Heading row three will be Michael Grabmuller and Sebastien Lavorel on their “Polizeisportverein Wels Delta Racing” LCR, Yamaha. The team were happy with this considering they had to do some work on their machine after their off track excursion yesterday. In the middle of row three is Jakob Rutz and Marcel Fries on their “Sidecar-Racing-Team-Rutz” LCR, Yamaha. The team are happy with this and hope for a good race.
Eighth place goes to Scot Lawrie and Calum Lawson on their “Team SLR” LCR, Suzuki. Driver Lawrie was not so happy with this as their machine had an electrical problem in Q2. Heading row four will be Janez Remse and Robbie Shorter on their “Remse Racing” ARS, Yamaha. The team had a trouble free qualifying and hope to have a good race.
Alongside Remse and Shorter will be Gunter Bachmaier and Manfred Wechselberger on their “MSV-Schwanenstadt, PSV-Wels” LCR, Suzuki. With no problems, they too are hoping for a good race.
Eckart Rosinger and Steffen Werner head row five on their “Team Early Grey” Baker, Suzuki. The team did not have any problems in qualifying, but they did not go on track in Q2. Tony Baker and Fiona Baker-Holden will line up alongside Rosinger and Werner, on their “Cumbria Express” Baker, Suzuki.
The ten lap Sprint Race will start at 14.15 local time.
Mark Walters