IDM Sidecar: Reeves Wins, Sattler Under Pressure

A turbulent first IDM Sidecar race at the Hockenheimring ended after ten laps with a victory for Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau (Bonovo Action Team/Adolf RS F1, 600 cc). The race was stopped early. Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries (Team Schlosser/LCR F1, 600 cc) took the lead at the start, but the positions of the two World Championship teams switched as early as the first lap and remained unchanged until the end. Bennie Streuer and Jeroen Remmé (Bonovo Action Team/Adolf RS F1, 600 cc) were classified third.

Josef Sattler and Luca Schmidt (Bonovo Action Team/Adolf RS F1, 600 cc) managed to salvage sixth place after a botched start, finishing behind the two guest starters Mike Roscher/Anna Burkhard (LCR-BMW F1, 1000 cc) and Lucas Wyssen/Thomas Hofer (LCR-Yamaha, 600 cc) to finish in sixth place. “I couldn’t get into my rhythm at all at the start,” Sattler reported, clearly dissatisfied. He had braked too hard on the third lap and narrowly avoided rolling over. As a result, the German duo dropped from fourth to twelfth place, but managed to fight their way back up the field.

Since the guest riders Roscher and Wyssen were not included in the standings, Sattler/Schmidt earned 13 crucial points in the championship race. The gap between the title contenders has narrowed following the victory by eight-time world champion Tim Reeves. Max Zimmermann/Ferry Segers finished seventh ahead of Janez Remse/Manfred Wechselberger (both Adolf RS F1, 600 cc).

A collision between Peter Kimeswenger/Kevin Kölsch (LCR F1, 600 cc) and second-place Markus Schwegler/Ondrej Kopecky (LCR F1, 600 cc) had serious consequences. Schwegler dropped back to ninth place, but far more serious was the fact that the fender on Kimeswenger’s sidecar broke off.
As the fender became increasingly loose and flapped about, the race marshals attempted to wave him into the pits with the “fried egg flag,” but Kimeswenger was unable to make it back. The fender flew off as early as the Sachs curve. Co-driver Kölsch was thrown from his seat and injured. The race was subsequently stopped, and Kölsch was taken to the medical center.

By contrast, the Austrian duo of Franz Kapeller and Markus Billich (Adolf RS F1, 600 cc) got off relatively lightly. After an overtaking maneuver against Wiggert Kranenburg and Jouk Hahn on the final lap, the rear end broke loose while braking into the turn. They rolled over, and the sidecar team came to rest on their backs. Markus Billich broke his ankle in the incident.

In Team Peter Schröder, co-driver Carolin Zimmermann was injured at the start. In the chaos following the start, there were several collisions, and she sustained minor injuries to her back.

The action continues on Sunday with the second race at 12:15 p.m. It will be broadcast live at www.idm.de.

IDM Sidecar, Ergebnis Rennen 1: