The world famous 4,185km “Bugatti Circuit” at Le Mans will host the first round of the 2021 FIM Sidecar World Championship on the 11th and 12th of June. Postponed from the April date due to the Covid pandemic, the World Sidecars will be supporting the famous “24 Heures Motos” for solo motorcycles.
With most teams having done pre-season testing and having competed in other championships. The weekend at Le Mans should be fast and furious. And with two races, teams will need to be on tip top form.
Reigning champion Tim Reeves with his French passenger Kevin Rousseau, who comes from Le Mans, will be hoping for a great start to their season. The team have done lots of testing and have been competing with success at other championships. The team have also had some stiff competition from a young French driver, Ted Peugeot with his father Vincent in the chair. Ted and Vincent will contest the Le Mans meeting; this will be the team’s first time competing at this level. The team are currently leading their French domestic championship.
The Finnish team of Pekka Paivarinta and his new passenger Kim Friman will be hoping for a good start to the season. It was looking like former champion Paivarinta might not compete this year due to sponsorship problems and work commitments. However it has turned out good for the team with a new deal for the championship.
Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries want this world title so bad, as do all teams. Schlosser and Fries have worked very hard developing their machine over the long layoff. Their testing has gone very well up till now. They also have managed to get some winning racing done too.
Unfortunately we won’t be seeing Dutch driver Bennie Streuer with his French passenger Emmanuelle Clement. They were having a great preseason testing at various circuits. Unfortunately disaster struck at a test at Oschersleben, Germany. The team had a very heavy impact crash on the start finish straight. Streuer was admitted to hospital with back injuries, he underwent surgery, which was very successful. He is hoping that he will return to racing later in the season. Passenger Clement was uninjured in the incident, a bit battered and bruised but overall okay.
However it is good news, Emmanuelle will be drafted in to help out Todd Ellis a former British champion.
Dutch driver Kees Endeveld with German passenger Hendrik Crome will be hoping for a good start to the season. Endeveld stood on the podium at the last meeting of 2019, this was in Estoril, Portugal, what a start for the season that would be for the team.
The Swiss pairing of Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer would like to be back where they finished off in 2019. The team was taking time out from racing after 2019, but all the teams had time out due to the Covid pandemic, so the team will be at the same stage as most teams, after a long unforeseen layoff.
There will be two British Champion teams at Le Mans, former winners Todd Ellis, his passenger Charlie Richardson will not be able to attend. Emmanuelle Clement will race with Ellis in Le Mans, also current champions Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood. These two teams will be hoping to get on the podium; they have had good preseason test sessions. Also this will be the first time these teams have contested the full championship season.
Being in Le Mans, there will be a lot of French teams for this meeting, joining Ted and Vincent Peugeot. The French like their sidecar racing. There will be some teams who could challenge for top positions throughout the weekend. Philippe Le Bail and Serge Leveau are no strangers to racing at this level, they will be hoping for top placings in both races. Philippe Gallerne with his passenger Yann Druel will hope for a good weekend, Gallerne, contested the championship for many years; he knows what the competition will be like. Claude and Cyril Vinet will be looking forward to this weekend and hoping for good results. Franck Barbier and Mickael Rigondeau will be hoping for a trouble free weekend and good results. Stephane Gadet and Clotilde Salmon, and Hugo Fretay and Joaquim Feroy Casas, both these teams will be hoping they can have a good weekend and trouble free, and good results too.
Unfortunately the grid in Le Mans has shrunk in the last week. The French government made a ruling that people traveling to France from certain countries would have to quarantine for 7 days due to covid restrictions. This has meant that three British teams have pulled out. Also the Slovenian team has pulled out because of testing restrictions and time limits with this. This is despite huge efforts the organisers, ACO and FFM have tried to find a suitable solution to these rulings.
Unfortunately there will be no spectators at Le Mans, but never the less it will be a great meeting with all teams egger to get going. There will be two races over the weekend, with Friday being a busy day with a qualifying session then the first of two 18 lap races. The first race will be at 2pm local time. An early start on Saturday morning, 9:45am local time will be the second 18 lap race.
FIM Communications