Assen, Sprint: Payne wins ahead of Christie, Päivärinta and Werkstetter

With a modest air temperature of 16 degrees but glorious sunshine, the 23 teams in the Sidecar World Championship took up their starting positions in Assen for the ten-lap sprint race on the TT Circuit. Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau (Steinhausen Racing) made themselves ‘at home’ on pole position. Right next to them were their fiercest rivals in the battle for the World Championship title, Pekka Päivärinta and Adam Christie (Hänni Racing).

The second row of the grid was made up of Ted and Vincent Peugeot (Seventy Four Racing) and the reigning world champions, Sam and Tom Christie (CES Performance). Behind them, Lewis Blackstock and Oscar Lawrence (DHR/DAO Racing) were due to start, but they were missing from the grid. Markus Schlosser and Lucas Krieg (Gustoil Sidecar Racing) faced a tough challenge, having finished qualifying in only 16th place.

Right from the start, Payne and Rousseau – who were racing this time in a special yellow and black livery – left no doubt as to who was in charge. Lap after lap, they extended their lead over the chasing pack. At the halfway point, the British-French duo were already 3.5 seconds ahead of their nearest challenger; by the time they crossed the finish line after ten laps, they had distanced themselves from the runners-up by 5.679 seconds.

Päivärinta/Christie were only able to enjoy second place for two laps before they had to let the defending champions past. However hard the Finn and his British co-driver tried, they could find no way past the Christie brothers.

Patrick Werkstetter and Valentin Pirat (Sattler Motorsport/Bonovo Action) put in a brilliant performance. Starting from seventh on the grid, they engaged in a thrilling wheel-to-wheel duel with local heroes Bennie Streuer and Manon Vissenberg, as well as – until their retirement – Tim Reeves and Luca Schmidt (Carl Cox Motorsport). On the final lap, the German-French duo moved up to fourth place, which they managed to defend right up to the finish line.

Topic of the week

Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring: track – hit or miss?

The people of Madrid had set their sights high for their city’s first Formula 1 World Championship race since 1981. But have the high expectations for the new Madring mixed-circuit track really been met?

Mathias Brunner

Read More

Schlosser/Krieg staged an incredible comeback. Already in 11th place after the first lap, they overtook one rival after another. In the final lap, they also overtook Streuer. Their final attack on Werkstetter fell just short.

Finishing seventh ahead of Manuel Moreau and Alice Roba, Thomas Eder and Kevin Kölsch achieved the best result so far in their still-young careers in only their third World Championship race, whilst Markus Venus and Thomas Hofer (ITW Racing) secured eighth place in the World Championship with a 10th-place finish. Peugeot/Peugeot, Reeves/Schmidt and Blackstock/Lawrence were unlucky, as they all had to throw in the towel due to technical faults whilst in promising positions.

Sidecar World Championship results, Assen, Sprint Race