The sun was shining for free practice. 21 sidecar teams took to the track. It should have been 22, but Philippe Gallerne and Helen Deeley were left in their pit box with their “Team Gallerne” RCN, Suzuki, having the wrong fuel in the tank.
From word go, it was Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze who set the pace on their “Remse Racing” LCR Yamaha, closely followed by Ben and Tom Birchall on their “Birchall Racing” LCR, Honda 600.
However half way through practice it was Pekka Paivarinta and Kirsi Kainulainen on their “44-Racing” LCR, BMW who were to set the fastest time of 1:35.490 and this would not be bettered. Both Paivarinta and Kainulainen were very happy with how things had gone and they did not have any problems with their machine.
Setting a time of 1:35.494 and the second fastest time was Tim Reeves and Gregory Cluze on their “Remse Racing/Team Eaide” LCR, Yamaha. The team had a trouble free practice, and even managed to try out some different settings on their machine.
A great time of 1:36.850 for Ben and Tom Birchall on their “Birchall Racing” LCR, Honda 600. The first of the FIM Sidecar F2 World Trophy teams. Again, the Birchall Brothers were really pleased with how their machine went, and they had no problems.
Fourth fastest was Sean Hegarty and James Neave on their “Hegarty Racing” LCR, Suzuki, they set a time of 1:37.212. Both Hegarty and Neave reported no problems with their machine, and were looking forward to qualifying tomorrow.
Setting the fifth fastest time of 1:37.240 on their “Team Streuer” LCR, Suzuki was Bennie Streuer and Geert Koerts, another team reporting no problems.
Markus Schlosser and Thomas Hofer were fairly pleased how things went for them on their “Sidecar Racing Team Schlosser” LCR, Suzuki, they set a time of 1:37.319. They hope to make a good improvement on their time in qualifying.
The “Sillicone/Barnes Racing” team of John Holden and Stuart Ramsay were having some problems with their braking system earlier in the day but seemed to have cured this, and they set a time of 1:37.527, the seventh fastest time on their LCR, Suzuki.
The eighth fastest time of 1:37.967 was set by Sebastien Delannoy and Kevin Rousseau on their “Team Sand Seb 72” LCR, Suzuki. The team reported no problems, and are taking things steadily.
The second fastest team in the FIM Sidecar F2 World Trophy was Michael Grabmuller and Sophia Kirchhofer on their “Polizeisportverein Wels Delta Racing Team” LCR, Yamaha 600. They set a time of 1:42.055. The team were not happy with their machine towards the end of the free practice. They found that they were having fuel mapping problems. They will try and solve this problem before qualifying tomorrow.
Third fastest team in the FIM Sidecar F2 Word Trophy was Gunther Bachmaier and Manfred Wechselberger on their “MSV-Schwanenstadt/PSV-Wels” LCR, Suzuki. They set a time of 1:43.214, and were really pleased how free practice went for them.
Saturday, there will be two qualifying sessions, the first at 9.20am, the second at 11.15am, and a 10 lap “Sprint Race” at 13.55, all are local times.
Mark Walters