Following the cancellation of the Sidecar World Championship on August 19, 2020, all attention is now focused on the IDM Sidecar series. For world champion Tim Reeves, the season got off to a rough start here. Due to a technical failure in the first race and a disqualification in the second race, the Brit failed to score any points at the season opener in Assen, Netherlands.
The multi-champion finished today’s first qualifying session at the Lausitzring in second place behind Markus Schlosser. Reeves says, “Everything’s fine. That’s just qualifying; things will be different in the race.” Still, the result bothers him. During the session, he pulled the 600 cm³ sidecar into the pits for nine minutes to have new tires fitted. Even so, Reeves was unable to get into Schlosser’s slipstream; Schlosser had already won both races at Assen. The Swiss rider was the only one to post a time in the 1:48 range. Reeves’ fastest lap was clocked at 1:49.145 minutes.
During qualifying, Schlosser decided to switch his sidecar back to old tires. The 48-year-old Swiss rider wanted to conserve the new tires and save them for the second qualifying session on Saturday. “In any case, the cards are now on the table,” says the full-time precision mechanic, glancing at Reeves.
Pekka Päivärinta has provisionally qualified for third place on the starting grid. But Schlosser believes, “He’s got more to give.” Josef Sattler, with his 17-year-old passenger Luca Schmidt, posted the fourth-fastest time. “The apprentice is making good progress,” the master praised. Both Reeves and Päivärinta gave the youngster in Sattler’s sidecar an appreciative pat on the back.
Bennie Streuer had hoped for more than fifth place on the grid. In free practice, he had been the third-fastest rider. But the Dutchman knows where he went wrong: “The suspension was set up wrong.” The former world champion explains: “Our strategy was completely off the mark. The front shock absorber was much too soft. Tomorrow we’ll go back to the old setup. Then it’ll work out again.”
In the 1000 cm³ class, Mike Roscher clearly dominated the field, finishing ahead of Franz Kapeller and Helmut Lingen.
1. Sidecar Qualifying, 600 cm³
1. Markus Schlosser (CH)/Marcel Fries (CH), LCR Yamaha, 1:48.626 min
2. Tim Reeves (GB)/Kevin Rousseau (F), ARS Yamaha, 1:49.145 min
3. Pekka Päivärinta (FIN)/Emmanuelle Clement (F), LCR Yamaha, 1:49.729 min
1. Qualifying Sidecar 1000 cm³
1. Mike Roscher (D)/Anna Burkard (CH), LCR BMW, 1:51.121 min
2. Franz Kapeller (A)/Markus Billich (A), ASR Suzuki, 1:54.633 min
3. Helmut Lingen (D)/Michael Prudlik (D), LCR Suzuki, 1:57.118 min