FIM/IDM Sidecar: Ellis/Clément Take Pole Position with Q1 Time

Persistent rain continued to make life difficult for the FIM/IDM sidecar teams on Saturday as well. In the second qualifying session, the teams not only battled for pole position but also fought against the standing water on the track.

As in the previous practice sessions, Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clément (Team Ellis/Clément/LCR Yamaha) dominated the second qualifying session and secured pole position at the Red Bull Ring. However, they were unable to improve their lap time in Q2—the rain made it impossible. “We could barely see anything because of the spray, which meant we practically had to ride with the handbrake on.” The lap time of 1:56.770 set in yesterday’s qualifying was enough to secure pole position.

The rest of the field was also unable to improve their times. Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau (Steinhausen Racing/ARS Yamaha) hold the second starting position with their fastest time of 1:57.216 minutes. Pekka Päivärinta and Ilse de Haas (Team Bonovo Action Team/LCR Yamaha) are in third place behind them, followed by Bennie Streuer and Kevin Kölsch (Streuer Racing/ARS Yamaha). World Championship leaders Ben and Tom Birchall (Wyckham Blackwell by Birchall) will start from seventh place.

The sprint race starts in the late afternoon at 4:45 p.m. IDM will broadcast the race live and free of charge at www.idm.de/live.

———————- English Version ——————————

Constant rain once again made life difficult for the FIM/IDM teams on Saturday. In the second qualifying session, the teams not only battled for pole position, but also had to contend with the large amounts of water on the track.

As in the previous practice sessions, Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clément (Team Ellis/Clement/LCR Yamaha) dominated the second qualifying session to secure pole position at the Red Bull Ring. However, they were unable to improve their lap time in Q2. The rain made it impossible. “We could hardly see anything because of the spray, which meant we practically had to drive with the handbrake on.” The lap time of 1:56.770 minutes set in yesterday’s qualifying session was enough to secure pole position.

The rest of the field was also unable to improve any further. Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau (Steinhausen Racing/ARS Yamaha) hold the second grid position with their fastest time of 1:57.216 minutes. Pekka Päivärinta and Ilse de Haas (Team Bonovo Action Team/LCR Yamaha) are in third, followed by Bennie Streuer and Kevin Kölsch (Streuer Racing/ARS Yamaha). World Championship leaders Ben and Tom Birchall (Wyckham Blackwell by Birchall) will start from seventh.

The sprint race begins in the late afternoon at 4:45 p.m. IDM will broadcast the race live and free of charge at www.idm.de/live.

World Championship/IDM Sidecar, Qualifying 2: