Harry Payne/Kevin Rousseau: Double wins at debut / World Sidecar Championship

Although the start of this year’s Sidecar World Championship will take place at Le Mans in just over a week, among the title contenders only Harry Payne/Kevin Rousseau and Tim Reeves/Mark Wilkes took the opportunity to find good coordination in the rounds of the French championship. . on that track of their tricycles.

The first race was won by Payne/Rousseau (Steinhausen Racing). The British and French pair overtook their rivals from last place and had a lead of over 22 seconds on their ARS Yamaha over Ted and Vincent Peugeot (Seventy Four Racing Team), who managed to salvage second place after a poor result ; start.

Behind the French Paul Leglise/Majorie Cescutti, Samuel and Jack Laidlow left all other local teams behind. With this result, the British brothers, whose father Andy Laidlow was one of the main drivers in the World Championship in the 2000s, showed that there is the possibility of greater things in the future.

“We had a lot of work to get a good feel for the new Hoosier tires. Every time we went on the track it got better,” Tim Reeves told SPEEDWEEK.com. “I put in a new engine and I had to break it during qualifying. That’s why we qualified with only fourth place on the grid. We were in second place in the first race, but the fuel pump stopped working.”

The second race also ended with a clear win for Payne/Rousseau (ARS Yamaha), who once again managed to clear Peugeot/Peugeot and Leglise/Cescutti in their place. “There is no better way to start the season,” said the team led by former world champion Rolf Steinhausen. The team that placed fifth in the World Cup championship made it clear that it will have a voice in the awarding of the world championship title this year.

For Reeves/Wilkes (Bonovo action Racing) the second race ended at halftime. “We took the lead from pole position. But it started raining and we went off the track. Despite those two setbacks, overall I’m satisfied with our work and ready for next week.”

Laidlow/Laidlow also did not see the corrected flag and had to give up early.