Was the first qualifying session at the Sidecar World Championship finale in Estoril a hint? This weekend in Portugal, Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement will battle it out for the world title against brothers Ben and Tom Birchall. To win, the pair must secure victories in the races and also have a bit of luck
In the first qualifying session, the British brothers topped the timesheets, followed by Sam Christie and Tom Christie. That is, until defending champions Ellis and Clement moved up into the mix after seven minutes. They were just one thousandth of a second behind the Christie siblings.
At the halfway point of the 20-minute session, the top three teams were posting times of 2:06, putting them well ahead of the rest. After eleven minutes, however, Ellis/Clement set a new fastest lap of 2:06.119, suddenly leaving their pursuers half a second behind.
But that wasn’t the end of it. Christie followed up with a time of 2:04.996 minutes, and then things really heated up in the final five minutes. Ellis remained in second place behind Christie. Close behind them were Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau. Pekka Päivärinta, with Luca Schmidt at the wheel, came flying in to take fourth place. The Birchalls had to settle for fifth place. In the second qualifying session, which will determine the starting grid and takes place at 1:55 p.m. German time, the pair will have to come up with something to move further up the order. However, they must not only get off to a good start but also win today’s race to keep their title hopes alive, as the British-French duo Ellis/Clement holds a 22-point lead in the overall standings. In Estoril, it will then be 12:55 p.m. In Portugal, the time is one hour behind.
FIM Sidecar: Christie leads Ellis in Q1, Birchall fifth
Was the first qualifying session at the Sidecar World Championship finale in Estoril a sign of things to come? This weekend in Portugal, Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement, along with brothers Ben and Tom Birchall, will be competing for the world championship title. The two must win the races and also need a bit of luck.
In the first qualifying session, the British brothers topped the timesheet, followed by Christie/Christie. That is, until the defending champions Ellis/Clement squeezed in between them after seven minutes. They were just one-thousandth of a second behind Christie.
At the halfway point of the 20-minute session, the top three teams posted times of 2:06 and were thus clearly faster than the rest. However, after eleven minutes, Ellis/Clement set a new fastest lap of 2:06.119 and suddenly left the chasing pack half a second behind.
But it didn’t stop there. Christie followed up with a time of 2:04.996 minutes, and then it was one after another in the final five minutes. Ellis remained in second place behind Christie. Behind them, Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau kept pushing. Pekka Päivärinta came flying in fourth with Luca Schmidt in the boat. The Birchalls had to settle for fifth place. In the second qualifying session, which determines the starting grid and will take place at 1:55 p.m. German time, the two will have to come up with something to move further up the standings. However, they not only have to get off to a good start, but also have to win today’s race to keep their title hopes alive, as the British-French duo Ellis/Clement holds a 22-point lead in the overall standings. In Estoril, it will be 12:55 p.m. In Portugal, the time is one hour behind.