FIM Sidecar World Championship.
Estoril, Portugal. Preview.
The last round of the FIM World Sidecar Championship will take place at the 4.182 km Circuito do Estoril, officially known as Autódromo Fernanda Pires da Silva. The circuit is situated on the Portuguese Riviera, 20 miles west of Lisbon.
The last round was supposed to be at Brands Hatch, England, last weekend, this was canceled. The sidecar teams will arrive at Estoril with an extra race. Three races at Estoril, one of the races will be normal points so that will be 25 for a race win. The other two races will have double points, 50 points for a race win.
The Swiss pairing of Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries will arrive with a healthy 260 point lead of the championship. They have had eight race wins and three second places, and one non start so far this season, the team have worked hard for this and their consistency has paid off, however they will need to be on top form because there is a lot of points to be had for the championship here in Estoril.
The Rookie team of Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement have had a great season, they sit second in the championship, 55 points adrift of Schlosser and Fries. The Anglo French pairing came to the championship hoping to do their best and have a learning year; this has turned out to be second in the championship, with a strong possibility of taking the championship if Schlosser and Fries have problems, but like Schlosser and Fries, they will need to be on top form.
Finish driver Pekka Paivarinta and his Dutch passenger Ilse de Haas have 157 points and sit in third place of the championship so far. The only team in the top three to have finished all races taking points. Paivarinta and De Haas will need to defend their third place carefully, there is only 13 points separating them and the next two teams fighting for top three honors in the championship.
Fourth in the championship is Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau. Reeves and Rousseau have recovered well in the championship. They had problems early on in the season, and half way through. But they have regrouped and have come strong the last three races. But they will need to keep their eye on another rookie team who have been having a great season and were sitting in the fourth place in the championship until the last race when Reeves and Rousseau took it from them.
Stephen Kershaw and Ryan Charlwood are only 2 points adrift of the aforementioned team of Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau. Kershaw and Charlwood have had a great first season just like Ellis and Clement, but they have worked hard for this, the team has been put under pressure with last minute mechanical and electrical problems just before race starts, but they have remained calm and solved the problems. They will fight hard for the race points.
Another Swiss team having a good season is Lukas Wyssen and Thomas Hofer. They did not attend the round at Donington Park, England, earlier in the season, so they will try and get a good points tally here in Estoril. They also are feeling a lot happier with their machine set up now, better than the beginning of the season.
Bennie Streuer and Jeroen Remme have certainly made up for not contesting the first three rounds, (6 races) due to injuries that Streuer sustained in a pre-season testing accident in Oschersleben, Germany. They are eighth in the championship with 49 points. They will be hoping for a trouble free weekend, and hope for good points for their championship.
Only one point separates the next two teams who will be here at Estoril. Robert Biggs and Jeroen Schmitz have 43 points with Claude Vinet and Melanie Farnier with 42 points. Also these two teams are only six and seven points behind Streuer and Remme, so a lot to fight for between these three treams.
Harrison Payne and Mark Wilkes came to Donington and Assen to see how they would fare with an old chassis, and for driver Payne it would be a first at this level of the sport. For Wilkes though, he is the current Champion as passenger, he will be a former champion after this weekend in Estoril. The team are hungry for more of the top level racing and will hope for a trouble free weekend.
Ben and Tom Birchall, former multiple champions will be here in Estoril. They have just been crowned British Sidecar champions, so they will be hoping to mix it with the top teams, if all goes well over the weekend they hope to come back and contest the 2022 season. Also running under the “Birchall Racing” banner, and contesting the weekend will be Craig Currie and Justin Sharp. This will be the first time the team have competed at this level of the sport, they will be hoping for a trouble free weekend.
Two French teams running under the same team banner, “Team Auto-Terca” will contest Estoril. Like the Birchall Brothers, one of these teams has just won their counties domestic championship. Paul Leglise and Sebastien Lavorel are French champions, they have contested the World Championship in the past so they know how competitive it is. The other in the team is Philippe Le Bail and Serge Leveau. Le Bail, also has contested the championship in previous years, so no stranger to the competition.
Another French team to make the trip to Estoril is Stephane Gadet and Valentin Pirat, they contested the first round in their home country, Le Mans, France, two good point scoring races there. They will hope for the same in Estoril.
There will be two 18 lap races on Saturday 30th, the first at 11:45 and the second at 15:10 local time. Sunday the 31st the third and final race of the 2021 season will be 18 laps and start at 12:00 local time.
Mark Walters