Oschersleben, Qualifying: Payne/Rousseau make a statement by taking pole position

Following races at Le Mans, Rijeka, Pau Arnos, Cremona and Assen, Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau will once again start the Sidecar World Championship races from pole position at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. The fastest lap set by the British-French duo from Team Steinhausen Racing sent a clear message to the competition.

“Being on pole here is obviously a great feeling. We’ll try to pull away straight after the start. Perhaps the chasing pack will hold each other up a bit in their battles for position, just like they did 14 days ago at Assen,” Payne explained in an interview with SPEEDWEEK.com. “If it were up to us, we’d like to clinch the title today.”

Unusually, neither the British title defenders Sam and Tom Christie (CES Performance) nor the Finnish-British duo Pekka Päivärinta and Adam Christie (Hänni Racing) – both of whom still have a chance of becoming world champions – will be lining up alongside them. The French pair Ted and Vincent Peugeot (Seventy Four Racing) managed to secure a place on the front row of the grid.

Sohn und Vater Peugeot

Foto: Helmut Ohner

To secure the World Championship title for the second time since 2024, Payne and Rousseau simply need to cross the finish line ahead of their closest rivals in today’s 12-lap sprint race on the 3.667-kilometre circuit in the Magdeburger Börde. The race, which can be watched via live stream, starts at 4.05 pm

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Markus Schlosser and Lucas Krieg (Gustoil Sidecar Racing) were locked in a battle down to the thousandth of a second with Tim Reeves and Luca Schmidt (Carl Cox Motorsport). In the final practice session, the Swiss rider – who had qualified fifth – managed to edge out his British rival by 0.006 seconds.

The German riders will line up on the fourth row of the grid for their home race. Patrick Werkstetter and Valentin Pirat (Sattler Motorsport/Bonovo Racing) showed no signs of having crashed heavily the previous day. They set the seventh-fastest time ahead of Thomas Eder and Kevin Kölsch, who have only been competing in the World Championship since Cremona.

Briton Lewis Nicol and his German passenger Valentin Marklin were unlucky. Having already missed both free practice sessions on Friday because the engine change had not been completed in time, they failed to make the cut in qualifying because the clutch gave out after three laps.

Sidecar World Championship, Qualifying at Oschersleben, 3 October 2026

1. Payne/Rousseau (GB/F), ARS Yamaha, 1:30.794 min. 2. T. Peugeot/V. Peugeot (F), LCR Yamaha, 1:31.722. 3. S. Christie/T. Christie (GB), LCR Yamaha, 1:32.202. 4. Päivärinta/A. Christie (FIN/GB), ARS Yamaha, 1:32.239. 5. Schlosser/Krieg (CH/D), LCR Yamaha, 1:32.865. 6. Reeves/Schmidt (GB/D), ARS Yamaha, 1:32.871. 7. Werkstetter/Pirat (D/F), ARS Yamaha, 1:33.106. 8. Eder/Kölsch (D), ARS Yamaha. 17:33.788. 9. C. Turner/D. Turner (AUS), LCR Yamaha, 1:33.862. 10. Streuer/Vissenberg (NL), ARS Yamaha, 1:33.913. 11. Kranenburg/Charteau (NL/F), 1:36.893. 12. Cable/Druel (GB/F), LCR Yamaha, 1:38.249. 13. Leijdekkers/Hofer (NL/CH), LCR Yamaha, 1:38.751. 14. Vinet/L. Marsal (F), LCR Yamaha, 1:40.656. 15. M. Brillault/Deturche (F), ARS Yamaha, 1:41.840. 16. U. Brillault/C. Marsal (F), LCR Yamaha, 1:42.873. 17. Weekers/Moes (NL), R&R Yamaha, 1:43.642. 18. Nicol/Marklin (GB/D), LCR Yamaha, 1:45.117.