Payne/Rousseau (Steinhausen Racing): Lead in the World Championship standings extended

Who is going to stop Harry Payne and his passenger Kevin Rousseau from Team Steinhausen Racing in this year’s Sidecar World Championship? Just as they did at the opening round of the twelve-round series at the Circuit Bugatti in Le Mans in mid-April, they were in top form again at the second round on French soil.

Even in practice on the Circuit Européen Pau Arnos, which is just 3.030 kilometres long, they left all their rivals behind, although their lead over Pekka Päivärinta and Adam Christie (Hänni Racing) was a very narrow 97 thousandths of a second.

The British-French duo braced themselves for a tough battle with the Finnish-British pairing in the first race. After a perfect start, Payne/Rousseau immediately took the lead. Their rivals remained within striking distance until the halfway point, but as the race progressed, their lead over the chasing pack grew steadily.

“Just don’t spin out,” thought the 2024 world champion in the extremely difficult conditions caused by the exceptionally high heat; the Briton, who has been living in the Netherlands for several years, knew that behind him the double winner from Rijeka was just waiting for him to make a mistake. “It worked out and we’re very, very happy about that.”

Payne was well aware that he faced another tough race on Sunday. With temperatures even higher – prompting the regional authorities to ban all sporting events after 12.00 CEST – the pole-setters got off to a perfect start and managed to pull decisively clear of the rest of the field on the very first lap.

When, just a few minutes before midday, the main race had to be stopped on the fifth lap due to an accident, Payne and Rousseau already had a lead of more than three seconds. As a restart was no longer an option, the standings after four laps were taken as the result. The teams were awarded half points.

The successful pair now head into the mid-season break with an 11.5-point lead over Päivärinta/Christie. The British defending champions, Sam and Tom Christie, are already 35.5 points behind. Fourth in the interim standings, the Swiss-German duo Markus Schlosser and Lucas Krieg, trail by an almost insurmountable 65 points.

Results, Sidecar World Championship, Pau Arnos, 20 June 2026

Results, Sidecar World Championship, Pau Arnos, 21 June 2026

World Championship standings after six of twelve races