FIM Sidecar World Championship.
Estoril, Portugal.
Q1 and Q2.
With free practice held in reasonable conditions, but with all teams wondering what tyres to fit, some chose slick tyres, others intermediate, and the rest wet tyres. The problem was that some parts of the track were dry then others were wet. But the teams who had wet tyres on had good feeling for one or two laps but then they went off due to the dry parts of the track. The other teams who had intermediate or slick tyres found that there was more wet than dry parts of the track. So when the session was over most teams were happy to get over and done with, and see how the rest of the afternoon was going to fair, weather wise. It turned out that there was no other choice but fit full wet tyres for the two qualifying sessions as the weather was turning out to be very wet.
Qualifying one was wet but most teams were trying to get a good time in as the day was looking like it would get worse, and to improve their Q1 time was going to be hard.
Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau with their Adolf RS, Yamaha took to the track, and from word go it was clear what the team had in mind, get a good time in and see how the other teams faired with their times. They worked up slowly to get good heat in their tyres and get a good feeling to the track conditions. With their machine drifting and sliding but under control, lap seven saw them set a time of 2:00.530. This time would not be bettered throughout the day. In qualifying two, Reeves and Rousseau did not take to the track as conditions did not warrant a better time, but they did however keep a close eye on what the other teams times were, just in case they had to try and beat or match a time.
Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement on their LCR, Yamaha set the second fastest time in Q1. They did take to the track in Q2, trying different settings on their machine, to see if they could improve the setup of their machine.
They did not improve their Q1 time of 2:02.567 in Q2, but were really pleased with how things had gone in the later part of the day.
A great qualifying for Harry Payne and Mark Wilkes with their Adolf RS, Yamaha. The team had issues earlier in the day with gear shift problems, then with machine setup. The team worked throughout the day rectifying these issues and in Q2, they were rewarded with the third fastest time of the day, a time of 2:03.757. The team was overjoyed with this and hope the races will be good for them too.
Ben and Tom Birchall with their LCR, Honda, set the fourth fastest time of 2:03.810 in Q1. The team were happy with this, and were making set up changes during the day to improve their machine in the worsening conditions, however they left things a bit late in Q2 and did not get the final track time they wanted. Like a lot of teams, Ben and Tom were having tyre grip issues. They will hope the rest of the weekend will be trouble free for them.
Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer set the fifth fastest time of 2:04.895 with their LCR, Yamaha. The team were really happy with this, and they are happy with their machine setup. Passenger, Hofer, was really happy too, as he has been suffering with severe toothache; he took matters into his own hands and removed the problem tooth, to also have a trouble free day.
Pekka Paivarinta and Ilse de Haas set the sixth fastest time of 2:05.330 in Q1. The team are reasonably happy with this, but Paivarinta is having problems with front end steering on the long right hand corner coming onto the start finish straight. The team will be trying to sort this problem for tomorrow.
Bennie Streuer and Jeroen Remme with their Adolf RS, Yamaha set the seventh fastest time of 2:05.543. The team were having handling and grip issues throughout the day but hope tomorrow will be better for them.
Robb Biggs and Jeroen Schmitz set the eighth fastest time of 2:05.770 with their LCR, Yamaha. The team were reasonably happy with this and hope the rest of the weekend will be trouble free for them.
Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries did not have a good day at the office with their LCR, Yamaha. The team struggled all day with front end handling and tyre grip issues. Schlosser wrestled throughout the day with this problem. The team can only hope that the weather will be a bit kinder for them, and maybe some adjustments they will do will help too.
Paul Leglise and Sebastien Lavorel set the tenth fastest time of 2:06.932 with their LCR, Yamaha. Driver Leglise looked a bit dejected after Q2, but their time was set in Q2. He complained like most other teams of no front grip.
Craig Currie and Justin Sharp were happy with their 2:07.104 on their LCR, Yamaha. This is the first time the team have raced at this level in the sport, and in the bad conditions a good result, and they had no problems with their machine.
Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood had a hard day with their LCR, Yamaha. They tried all they could to get their machine handling the way they wanted, but again, like a lot of teams grip was the problem. Their time was 2:08.367.
Claude Vinet and Melanie Farnier set a time of 2:13.605 with their LCR, Yamaha. Another team who had grip problems, but they hope for a trouble free rest to the weekend.
Philippe Le Bail and Serge Leveau set a time of 2:15.035 with their LCR, Yamaha, they had a trouble free day and hope for better tomorrow.
Stephane Gadet and Valentin Pirat with their LCR, Kawasaki set a time of 2:17.403, this time was set in Q2. The team had no problems with their machine and hope for a good day tomorrow.
There will be two 18 lap races tomorrow, 30th October, the first will be at 11:45 local time and will have normal points awarded. The second will start at 15:10 local time and will have double points awarded.
Mark Walters.