A day before the Sidecar World Championship starts at Le Mans, Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes cause a real surprise. The top team advance to the World Cup and focus on the Tourist Trophy.
With six world championships, two overall wins in the F2 World Cup and 65 World Championship race wins, Tim Reeves is currently the most successful sidecar driver. With co-driver Mark Wilkes – with whom the Dutch-based Brit won the World Cup title in 2019 – he would be one of the favorites this season too, but the team’s racing fans will miss England’s Bonovo dearly. -two steps this season, at least at the level of the World Cup.
“Given the current financial challenges, we had to make a strategic decision to focus our energies on the Tourist Cup this year,” says Tim Reeves, explaining his rejection of the World Cup series. “It’s a difficult decision, but if we can’t provide the resources needed to be competitive at the World Championships, we believe it’s wiser to focus on events where we can show our full potential.”
Despite the financial woes, Reeves remains optimistic about next season, citing significant improvements to the racing package. “We are looking forward to launching our new Honda machine, which we believe will significantly improve our competitiveness. With the unwavering support of our dedicated team and sponsors, we are confident that we can deliver a strong performance at the Touring Cup.
With less than six weeks to go until the start of the race on the Isle of Man, expectations are high in the Reeves Racing camp. “We’re counting down the days until we can do our first round of the year at the Snaefell Mountain Course. It’s always exciting to drive at such a famous track and we’re ready to commit. We’ll also run the rest of the British F1 Championship, which will hopefully attract sponsorship more.
The bloodshed in the sidecar world championship continues. In addition to Reeves/Wilkes, fellow Englishmen Ben and Tom Birchall as well as Stephen Kershaw/Ryan Charlwood have already refrained from being named this year. With the Birchalls’ co-driver leaving, the two-time World Cup third-place finishers lost their main sponsor just weeks before the start of the season. No alternative could be found in such a short time.