Werkstetter/Pirat ahead of their comeback: “Sidecar World Championship, here we come!”

Patrick Werkstetter and Valentin Pirat finished fourth in the final round of the 2025 Sidecar World Championship in Oschersleben on 5 October. The day before, the German-French pair had narrowly missed out on their first podium finish, coming fourth. These results saw them climb from ninth to sixth place in the final World Championship standings.

Following this positive end to the season, the Sattler Motorsport team went into their planning for 2026 with optimism, but a torn cruciate ligament sustained by the rider in January dashed all their hopes. Just as they were beginning to think about their first test sessions, the repaired cruciate ligament failed to withstand the strain. A second operation and the postponement of his return to the racetrack were unavoidable.

On 19 July, Werkstetter and Pirat were able to slip back into their leather suits for the first time. At the Pannonia Ring, they made their first tentative attempts to see whether the battered knee would hold up and whether a World Championship comeback in Cremona could seriously be considered. After three days, team boss Josef Sattler was able to give a positive assessment.

Ahead of the race in Italy, a final test was carried out on the first weekend of Augustat the Red Bull Ring as part of the Rupert Hollaus Race in the International Sidecar Trophy, which ended for Werkstetter and Pirat on their ARS Yamaha with a commanding class victory and a retirement due to a chain coming off.

“It’s a good thing it happened during the test. We know what caused it and have already sorted out the problem,” Sattler revealed in an interview with SPEEDWEEK.com. “As we weren’t entirely satisfied with the sidecar’s performance, we put it through its paces again and tweaked a few settings here and there. So we should be well prepared to set off for Italy. Sidecar World Championship, here we come!”