Fire at Payne/Rousseau: “We were expecting the worst back in the pits”

Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau devote a great deal of time to their daily fitness regime. Not least because of this, the extreme heat to which the sidecar teams in France and Italy were exposed seems to affect them less than many of their rivals. At Pau Arnos, the 34-year-old Briton and his French passenger – who is a year his junior – won both the sprint and the main race with ease in tropical temperatures.

In Cremona, too, Payne and Rousseau demonstrated their current dominance. From the private practice sessions to familiarise themselves with the new track, through free practice, right up to qualifying, they set by far the fastest lap times on the 3.768-kilometre circuit. With a time of 1:36.974 minutes, they secured pole position comfortably. The reigning world champions, Sam and Tom Christie, were second, 0.866 seconds behind.

In Saturday’s sprint race, too, everything went according to plan for the Steinhausen Racing Team in extreme heat. The 2024 world champions did not put a foot wrong and led the field from the first to the last lap. Without having to push themselves to the limit, Payne/Rousseau crossed the finish line after twelve laps more than ten seconds ahead of the Christie brothers. The championship runners-up, Pekka Päivärinta/Adam Christie, were a further 1.5 seconds behind.

Around midday on Sunday, in the main race – which had been shortened from 20 to 18 laps due to the extreme heat – everything looked set for another victory for the British-French duo. “The lads already had a comfortable lead at the halfway stage, so I signalled to them to ease off a bit to save the bike and tyres,” team boss Maik Steinhausen told SPEEDWEEK.com.

Leaders’ sidecar catches fire

Harry Payne: Auch als Feuerwehrmann erfolgreich

Foto: Helmut Ohner

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However, the ‘easier pace’ could not prevent the sidecar from catching fire on lap 15. “A quick-release coupling in the fuel line in the airbox had come loose, and fuel had leaked over the fairing onto the exhaust. Kevin desperately tried to smother the flames with his hands. It was only when Harry grabbed the fire extinguisher from a marshal that he was able to bring the fire – which had also spread to the grass – under control.”

“We’d already braced ourselves for the worst back in the pits, but thanks to Harry’s courageous intervention, the sidecar suffered only minor damage, contrary to our fears. Only the fairing above the exhaust is slightly charred. Over the next few days, the sidecar will be thoroughly cleaned – it was, after all, covered in fire-extinguishing powder – and then everything will be meticulously inspected once more and prepared for the next race.”

Instead of leaving Italy for home with a comfortable lead in the World Championship standings, the outcome of the three-way battle for the world title is once again wide open with four races to go. Ahead of the event at the TT Circuit in Assen, the Netherlands (19 and 20 September), the Rijeka dominators Päivärinta/Christie are just 4.5 points behind, and the gap for the defending champions Christie/Christie is also manageable at 15.5 points.

Results, Sidecar World Championship Sprint Race, Cremona, 8 August 2026

Results, Main Race, Sidecar World Championship, Cremona, 9 August 2026

World Championship standings after 8 of 12 races