Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau (Bonovo Action Team/Adolf RS) also won the second IDM race in the sidecar class at Most. However, the race wasn't entirely flawless for the experienced sidecar team.
The light turned green, and the nine sidecars rolled forward amid the thunderous roar of their engines. Only Reeves failed to get off the line from his pole position as expected. Josef Sattler/Luca Schmidt (Bonovo Action Team/Adolf RS) and Peter Kimeswenger/Ondřej Sedláček (MRSC Gunskirchen SRT#11/ LCR Yamaha) passed him before the Brit got into his stride. But Tim Reeves is known for his ambition, and so he charged forward in leaps and bounds. He passed Kimeswenger, then the leader Sattler on lap five, and the path to his next victory was clear once again. What had happened at the start? “I shifted into the wrong gear and started in the wrong one. That cost me time,” said Reeves. Even an eight-time world champion still makes mistakes.
Sattler and his co-driver Schmidt crossed the finish line nine seconds later and finished second. Drenched in sweat but satisfied, the pair had struggled with their speed just the day before. “Things went well today. We finally had a better pace again, even if we still can’t match last year’s times,” said Sattler. They plan to continue investigating the cause until the next race in Schleiz.
Just like the day before, Kimeswenger fought his way to third place on the podium. During the race, he came under fierce attack from Janez Remše and Manfred Wechselberger (REMSE RACING | PSV WELS/Adolf RS), who, however, were a bit too eager to make the pass and ended up braking too late. Instead of moving forward, Remše and Wechselberger ended up driving straight through the run-off area. Since they are not allowed to use the run-off area to their advantage, they fell back behind Kimeswenger/Sedláček and the following team of Lennard Göttlich and Uwe Neubert (Bonovo Action Team/Adolf RS F1). Shortly thereafter, they benefited from a driving error by the young talent Göttlich, which allowed them to secure fourth place.
Göttlich/Neubert finished fifth, while Max Zimmermann and Ronja Mahl (Team Zimmermann/Adolf RS) came in sixth, ahead of the two Estonians, Eero Pärm and Lauri Lipstok (Pärm Racing Team/Adolf RS).
For Markus Schwegler and Ondrej Kopecky (Motorsport Königswartha e.V./ LCR Yamaha), the race ended in a disappointing ninth place after an unsuccessful battle for third place against Kimeswenger on the penultimate lap. Just as Schwegler was about to launch his attack, he mis-shifted and his foot got caught briefly. As a result, he braked far too late at the end of the straight. The run-off area caught the sidecar team without incident, but the last spot on the podium was now out of reach. “Too bad, I would have loved to grab third place,” said Markus Schwegler, who had already finished eighth in the sprint race on Saturday after spinning out.
Even though both races were clearly dominated by Tim Reeves and Kevin Rousseau, spectators at the sidecar races were treated to plenty of thrilling overtaking maneuvers that surely got some fans’ hearts racing. In Schleiz, the deck has been reshuffled. And anyone who has ever been to Schleiz knows that surprises are nothing out of the ordinary here.
IDM Sidecar, 12-lap race:
- REEVES/ROUSSEAU (GBR/FRA)
- SATTLER/SCHMIDT (GER/GER)
- KIMESWENGER/SEDLACEK (AUT/CZE)
- REMŠE / WECHSELBERGER (SLO/AUT)
- GÖTTLICH/NEUBERT (GER/GER)
- ZIMMERMANN/MAHL (GER/GER)
- PÄRM/LIPSTOK (EST/EST)
- SCHWEGLER/KOPECKY (GER/AUT)
- RUTZ/BILLICH (Switzerland/Austria)