What a race that was! You don’t often see a battle at the front like the one at Hockenheim in the IDM Sidecar series. It started with a tire strategy gamble and ended with shredded rain tires and a well-preserved slick. Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau won the 600 cm³ class. Mike Roscher and Anna Burkard took home the biggest trophy in the 1000 cm³ class.
Eight-time world champion Tim Reeves seemed to be pulling away from pole position toward the finish line. But in the final laps, Pekka Päivärinta was suddenly right on his tail. Right up until the last corner, it was unclear whether the Brit or the Finn would win the race. But Reeves drove aggressively, and for Päivärinta, it was all over after the final corner. Despite the victory, Reeves cannot defend his 2019 IDM title. Due to the limited number of events this year, he is unable to make up for the zero points he scored at Assen. He simply doesn’t have enough points.
All the teams that had opted for rain tires in light of the weather conditions faced the same problem at the Hockenheimring: After the first few laps, the track was no longer wet enough for the tires, which were wearing down at an ever-faster rate. It was getting increasingly slippery.
Bennie Streuer had to relinquish his long-held second-place position to Päivärinta. “My tire is completely flat. There was nothing I could do.” Championship leader Markus Schlosser had far more reason to be frustrated. At the start of the race, he had been in fourth place behind Päivärinta and had constantly tried to make a move, but in the end he finished only sixth: engine trouble. “The engine stalled a few times even during the pre-start. I wasn’t at all sure if we’d even be able to race, let alone make it to the finish line.” The Swiss driver and his co-driver, Marcel Fries, had set their sights much higher. While they could talk about damage control, Schlosser is extremely ambitious and wants to be at the front of the pack.
Just how important the co-drivers are was once again extremely evident at Hockenheim. Given the prevailing weather conditions, they have to accurately gauge how fast the driver is going, and the driver must provide maximum steering support through his positioning.
Mike Roscher and Anna Burkard secured another victory in the IDM Sidecar 1000 class. The Saxon rider started the race on slick tires. While this made for a very difficult start, it ultimately proved to be the key to success and earned them another 25 championship points. A lead of over 16 seconds over the second-place finishers, Helmut Lingen and Michael Prudlik, demonstrates what Roscher is capable of. Jord Klok and Carmen Laudy crossed the finish line in third place. The IDM title decisions will be made on the first weekend of October at the Sidecar Festival in Oschersleben.