Close racing and late drama at Pannoniaring Hungary
Hot, dry conditions would guarantee a great weekend on a newly resurfaced track. Free practice was a close affair, with the top four crews studying each other and the general situation. Tim Reeves/Kevin Rousseau set the standard from Markus Schlosser/Marcel Fries and veteran Pekka Paivarinta/Ilse de Haas. Kees Endeveld capsized his outfit without injury to either occupant.
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The 2021 season bursts into life at Oulton Park over the weekend of June 25-27th with a bumper grid, some new names, but with some notable teams missing.
The FIM World Championship in Hungary claims the attention of Tim Reeves/Kevin Rousseau, reigning British Champion Steve Kershaw/Ryan Charlwood, Kevin Cable and Kyle Masters, and 2019 Champions Todd Ellis/Charlie Richardson. This could well be a case of “when the cat’s away”, but that only makes the excitement and opportunity at Oulton more intense. With two races on the programme at the spectacular Cheshire circuit, there is much to play for.
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The modern and stylish Pannoniaring in Hungary hosts the second round of the FIM Sidecar World Championship over the weekend of June 25-27th. Named after an extremely successful motorcycle manufacturer from the Communist era, the circuit was opened in 1997 having been designed with motorcycle racing in mind.
The core group of registered teams will make the journey despite the numerous hurdles associated with the Covid-19 protocols in place across borders. The diversity of the entry is reflected in the standings, with British crews featuring strongly.
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Extension to the current levels of restriction by the Scottish Government has brought further complication to the 2021 Bennetts British Superbike Championship.
The Knockhill round scheduled to take place over the weekend of July 9-11th will now become a two-day event (10-11th July) with reduced classes participating.
MSV, promoters of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, have had the difficult choice of dropping three of those classes. The British Sidecar Championship traditionally runs a full programme alongside that event, but now there is literally no room on the shortened programme to accommodate the sidecars.
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The difficulty of added rules and regulations surrounding travel did nothing to dent the appetite of the British crews at the Bugatti Circuit Le Mans for the opening round. Three teams had served seven days quarantine at the circuit ahead of the weekend, with Kevin Cable making the trip slightly later under modified rules. Sadly, UK absentees included John Holden and Rob Biggs.
Nonetheless, sixteen crews enjoyed beautifully sunny conditions on the build-up to a much-anticipated return to Grand Prix action. The numbers were bolstered by a strong showing of French teams.
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FIM Sidecar World Championship
A last-minute change of direction in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the French authorities placing Great Britain under stricter rules for incoming travellers. (The rules still changing daily so no guarantees)
Effective Tuesday June 1st all visitors from the UK must have a negative PCR test before travelling to France, and then be subjected to seven days quarantine and isolation in that country before going about their business. Of the six British crews entered for Le Mans next week, only three could conform to that tight schedule.
After what has seemed an eternity, the FIM Sidecar World Championship explodes into life at Le Mans alongside the FIM EWC World Endurance Championship.
With Covid-19 protocols strictly in place at the circuit, the presence of spectators is not allowed at this the first round, but with the vaccine programmes being rolled out across Europe, hopes are high for a resumption of normal business at the earliest opportunity. Support has been strong for Le Mans, with twenty crews from six nations on the entry list.
The weekend of June 25-27 sees Oulton Park host the opening round of 2021 as per the published schedule.
In previous years, the constraints placed on the circuit by reduced track time have meant that the sidecars have been allocated just the one race. This has been unpopular, but also recognised as unavoidable.
Roger Body has been lobbying hard over this particular sticking point and his efforts have finally paid off.
The Oulton Park opener will now feature two sidecar races, thereby getting the season away to a meaningful haul of points for the championship hopefuls. This is due solely to Roger’s efforts and a large degree of cooperation from Stuart Higgs and the MSVR organisation.
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RKB-F1 Motorsport in conjunction with the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme is delighted to announce that the fourth round of the championship will be at Assen in Holland over the weekend of 23-25th July.
This is also the fourth round of the FIM Superbike World Championship and will be the second time the sidecars join WorldSBK in 2021.
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RKB-F1 Motorsport is delighted to share the FIM announcement that the Le Mans 24hr WEC race has been re-scheduled for June 11-13 at the Bugatti Circuit.
The opening two races of the 2021 FIM Sidecar World Sidecar Championship will therefore take place on Friday and Saturday of that weekend (11/12).
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The two-day test session organised by Roger Body and RKB-F1 Motorsport at the Snetterton 300 circuit attracted a good following from the Molson Group F1 Championship with fifteen outfits signing on Saturday morning.
There was also a fair gathering of club and classic machinery, whilst the F2 outfits were conspicuously absent.
At around six degrees with a strong breeze, conditions were far from ideal, although by its very nature, many teams shook out the cobwebs of the closed season and came away with positive results.
Le Mans April opener cancelled.
Following a joint statement by the FIM and WEC, we are obliged to announce the cancellation of Round One of our 2021 season.
In the face of the COVID pandemic situation in France, the organisers have no alternative but to shelve the event planned for April 16-18.
The statement reads –
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The published dates for the FIM Sidecar World Championship are still very much on target with the global pandemic situation appearing to be significantly improved.
One early planned date however, that being the 23-25 April TBA event, is now formally removed from the schedule.
Work is at an advanced stage between RKB-F1 Motorsport, the FIM and a major circuit organiser to replace this round later in the year.
News on those negotiations is expected imminently, so we anticipate the scheduled number of rounds will be unaffected.
The Bennetts British Superbike Championship celebrates its 25th anniversary season against a challenging backdrop of COVID-19 restrictions and a ban on spectators during 2020.
The current regulations on crowd attendances at non-seated venues are set to be lifted on June 20th, so MSVR has taken the bold decision to postpone the start of the new season until the legions of loyal fans can return in force to support and celebrate a quarter of a century of the series.
Intrinsically linked with this decision, the British Sidecar Championship will also benefit from the returning hordes of spectators. The traditional Oulton Park season opening race will now move to the first available restriction-free weekend, that being 25-27 June.
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