Thomas Eder ahead of the World Championship finale in Oschersleben: “I’ll have to push myself”

On the first weekend in October, Thomas Eder will compete as a sidecar rider in front of a home crowd for the first time at the Sidecar Festival at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. He isn’t particularly nervous ahead of this debut. “As far as my nerves are concerned, they’ll be much the same as at other races,” Eder tells SPEEDWEEK.com calmly.

Although he made a name for himself at his first World Championship event in Cremona with two ninth-place finishes and was able to build on these results in Assen with a seventh and a tenth place, the 41-year-old German was aware that he needs to make some changes to his sidecar to further reduce the gap to the front-runners.

“The position of the handlebar stems on my sidecar is almost like that of a solo bike. Whilst that suits me, it’s far from ideal. I’ve noticed that my colleagues have their handlebars set at a much steeper angle, so we’ve decided to go ahead with the modification for the races at Oschersleben.”

Thomas Eder nimmt im Gespann von Patrick Werkstetter Maß

Foto: Helmut Ohner

Without having tested it beforehand, Thomas Eder and his passenger Kevin Kölsch are heading into the World Championship final. “In theory, it should make a difference; whether that’s actually the case in reality remains to be seen. I’ll just have to force myself to do it. To be able to make final adjustments on the day, we’ve also entered the Northern Sidecar Cup.”

Schedule, Sidecar World Championship, Oschersleben

World Championship standings after 10 of 12 races