FIM World Sidecar Championship 2026 Le Mans

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Mark Walters

Preview

FIM Sidecar World Championship.

A great entry for the first round of the 2026 FIM Sidecar World Championship.

Twenty six teams will contest the first round to be held at the famous 4.185 km “Bugatti Circuit” at Le Mans, France, 16th to 18th April, they will be a support class to the famous 24 hour solo motorcycle race.

The championship is looking good this year with the FIM taking control with added support from Boris Stroud and “Marin Motorsports”. Also Eckart Rosinger and Michael Breitenbach, “Sidecar Partners”.

The top three teams in last year’s championship will be here at Le Mans to battle it out and try to get the upper hand to get their championship off to a good start.

Running with the number one plate, Sam and Tom Christie have been working through the winter months on their machine; they had a good testing week in March at Val de Vienne.

Markus Schlosser with his new passenger Lucas Krieg were showing good pace testing in March.

Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau had a good outing a couple of weeks ago here at Le Mans at the first round of the French championship; they came away with two race wins.

Fourth in last year’s championship Pekka Paivarinta, (starting his 22nd year in world championship) will be hoping for a good start to the championship with his passenger Adam Christie. They too had a very good test week in Val de Vienne, with constant lap times.

Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement will be back. After a frustrating 2025 season, they worked throughout the winter months and have made changes with their chassis; they are looking forward for the challenge ahead of them.

Young German driver Patrick Werkstetter with his French passenger Valentin Pirat had a big learning season last year with ups and downs, when they were going well they certainly mixed with the top teams, this year I am sure they will be pushing hard for good results.

Paul Leglise with his partner Marjorie Cescutti have been flat out over the winter months working on their machine, they will relish the atmosphere here in Le Mans and they will be hoping the French crowd will spur them on for good results.

Another full French team and the current French champion’s son and father team Ted and Vincent Peugeot will want to show that they can run with the top teams, they were setting good times testing in Val de Vienne last month, and again like Leglise and Cescutti will be hoping for inspiration from the French crowd.

Kevin Cable will be starting here in Le Mans with his new passenger Frenchman Yann Druel, they had a good testing in Val de Vienne in March. They by the end of the week were getting on well together, and their machine was all good too, Druel will be hoping for a trouble free weekend in Le Mans in front of his home crowd.

Markus Venus and Thomas Hofer had a fairly good learning season last year and will be hoping for more this year, they have done a lot of setup work with their machine throughout the winter and had a good test in Val de Vienne.

Big news from Tim Reeves, he has teamed up with experienced French lady passenger Melanie Farnier, and they will be with a two bike team under the “Carl Cox” banner. The other half of the team will be Paul Kirby and Ema Salmon, another French lady passenger. These two teams had good success at the first French round two weeks ago. Reeves and Farnier had two second places, with Kirby and Salmon finishing third in the first race but unfortunately they had a technical problem in the second race leaving them with a DNF.

Corey and Danyon Turner from Australia will contest the 2026 championship. During testing in March passenger Danyon broke his wrist after the team had an off on track. At first it was thought that it would be at least 12 weeks before the wrist would be healed completely, leaving the team in limbo whether they would be able to compete. However, I think there has been surgery to repair the broken wrist. We will see whether the team will compete together, or whether they will have a stand in passenger.

Dutch driver Bennie Streuer has had a quiet couple of seasons, but is back with Dutch lady passenger Manon Vissenberg, they will be looking for a trouble free event here in Le Mans.

Top teams from the UK will contest here in Le Mans, current British sidecar champions Lewis Blackstock and Oscar Lawrence; they stood on the podium in Assen last year, they will be looking for the same here. Relatively new to the sport, Luke Williams, and his experienced German passenger Kevin Kolsch, they were fighting for the British championship last year. Sam and Jack Laidlow, Lewis Nicol with his French passenger Clement Conil.

Dutch driver Raymond Leijdekkers will have French passenger Oceane Bataille in the chair with him and will be hoping for a trouble free weekend.

Another Dutch driver is Wiggert Kranenburg, he had a good testing in Val de Vienne albeit with Kevin Kolsch in the chair, for this meeting Kranenburg will have Loris Charteau passengering him.

Being in France, and Le Mans, there are a lot of French sidecar teams hoping to get the French crowd in good vocal form.

Philippe Gallerne with Maxime Vasseur from France, they too are the only team running a Kawasaki engine, all the other teams run Yamaha engines. Cyril and Gerald Vinet, they had a good test in Val de Vienne. Claude Vinet with Leane Marsal, Manuel Moreau will have Belgian lady passenger Alice Roba with him. Michael Brillault teams up with Fabrice Deturche, and Ulric Brillault will have Cora Marsal, she is the sister of Leane passenger to Claude Vinet.

Thursday 16th April will have two free practice sessions. Friday the single qualifying session with an 11 lap race at 15.35 local time. Saturday at 11.50 there will be an 18 lap race.

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Entry list

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Live timing

https://support.live-frclassification.fr/

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Results

https://fimewc.frclassification.fr/even ... races-2026

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Private practice

https://fimewc.frclassification.fr/even ... ctice-2026

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Words

Mark Walters

Team Christie Racing get #FIMSidecar World Championship defence under way at Le Mans

The 2026 FIM Sidecar World Championship gets under way this coming weekend at Le Mans in France as part of the famous 24 Heures Motos at the Circuit Bugatti, signalling the start of an intense six-round campaign to decide this unique discipline’s leading competitors.

Having clinched their debut FIM World Championship crown following a dramatic 2025 title fight, British brothers Sam and Thomas Christie (Yamaha) will be hoping to carry their momentum into the new season with consistency once again being seen as key to a successful campaign.

Last season the Christie brothers were incredibly consistent, finishing all fourteen points-scoring races inside the top five and in the process scoring twelve podium finishes to run out winners by just four points ahead of Swiss rider Markus Schlosser (Yamaha) and his German passenger Luca Schmidt.

Schlosser, the 2021 FIM Sidecar Rider World Champion, topped the podium ahead of the Christie brothers when Le Mans staged last season’s championship opener and the fifty-four-year-old – a veteran of over three decades of sidecar racing – knows a repeat performance, this time with German passenger Lucas Krieg, will lay the foundations for another title challenge.

After finishing third last year, Harrison Payne (ARS Yamaha) from Britain and his French passenger Kevin Rousseau – champions in 2024 – have a point to prove. Speed was never an issue in 2025 and the pair won more races than any other team, but reliability issues proved to be expensive and two retirements – in the second races at Le Mans and Most in the Czech Republic – were costly.

The main opposition to last season’s three leading crews came from seasoned Finnish rider Pekka Päivärinta (ARS Yamaha) and his passenger Adam Christie, the third of the British brothers in action, who scored nine podium finishes including a victory in the opening race on the series’ second visit to Assen.

Päivärinta, a five-time FIM Sidecar Rider World Champion, will once again team up with Christie and the pair have to be considered title contenders this time around, although there is real strength in depth in a field that numbers an impressive twenty-six crews for the opening round.

Back-to-back FIM gold medal winners in 2022 and 2023, the British/French pairing of Todd Ellis (ARS Yamaha) and Emmanuelle Clément were eighth last year after an inconsistent season and return for another attempt at completing their hat-trick of titles, while Britain’s Tim Reeves (ARS Yamaha) – FIM Sidecar Rider World Champion in 2019 – will be hoping to replicate that winning form with new French passenger Mélanie Farnier at his side.

Reeves, with Dutch passenger Ferry Segers, won the opening race at last year’s concluding round at Oschersleben in Germany so there is no question mark concerning his speed, while the British pairing of Lewis Blackstock and Oliver Lawrence (Yamaha) claimed a race podium in race one on the series’ second visit to Assen, their sole championship appearance in 2025.

Other teams expected to score well at Le Mans include, but are not limited to, the French pairing of Paul Leglise (Yamaha) and Marjorie Cescutti who claimed a debut podium together last season at Most, while Germany’s Patrick Werkstetter (ARS Yamaha) and French passenger Valentin Pirat will be looking to improve on their sixth-placed ranking from last year.

The opening eleven-lap Sprint race is scheduled to start at 15:35 (local time) on Friday 17 April before the eighteen-lap Main race gets under way the following day at 11:50 (local time).

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Free practice one report from Mark Walters

Le Mans,

Free practice one.

The sun was shining bright as the sidecar teams took to the track in Le Mans.

Twenty four teams took to the track. Markus Schlosser and Lucas Kreig were first out the box, trying to get some good lap times in on a clear track.

Manuel Moreau and Alice Roba did not venture out in the free practice session as driver Moreau had a problem with his leg, but the team hope to get out in free practice two later.

Luke Williams and Kevin Kolsch are working flat out changing an engine, they had a massive failure on their first lap.

Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau were on the pace from word go. They set the fastest time, 1:43.385. They were happy with this, and no problems with their machine.

Champions Sam and Tom Christie were blowing the cobwebs away after a long winter not competing. They set the second fastest time of 1:44.947.

Pekka Paivarinta and Adam Christie were third fastest; they set a time of 1:45.310.

Ted and Vincent Peugeot set the fourth fastest time, they were reasonably happy with this; their time was a 1:45.929

Lewis Blackstock and Oscar Lawrence were really happy with their first free practice session, they set the fifth fastest time a 1:46.233.

A lot of teams were starting to make chassis adjustments after the first session. Also making bodywork adjustments. As this will be the first time they have been on track since last year.

The second free practice session will be later this afternoon.

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Free practice two

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Practice two report from Mark Walters

Le Mans.

Free Practice two.

Well the weather has been nice. Free practice two set off a little later than expected due to some red flag incidents in the solo class practice.

Although only free practice, the pace was hotting up on track, and it was a busy track, teams trying to get a clear track was hard at times.

Williams and Kolsch managed to get their machine up and running for this session, the team were really pleased about that. Also Moreau and Roba made this free practice session.

Still a lot of teams struggling with chassis setup, they will be working on their machines into the night.

Bennie Streuer and Manon Vissenberg had a nightmare session, they hit mechanical trouble which put them watching from the side-lines. They are changing an engine.

Australian team, Corey Turner, who has Luca Schmidt in the chair as brother Danyon is not fit due to a broken wrist, were having problems driving out of corners, the team think it is due to a fuel problem.

French team, Paul Legalise and Marjorie Cescutti were not happy at all in free practice one, but the came back after this free practice very happy how things went.

The Laidlow Brothers Sam and Jack were not happy in the first session after making changes before, again they went back to the settings they had before but went too far. They will be trying to find a happy medium for qualifying tomorrow.

Tim Reeves and Melanie Farnier were not so happy after session one, Reeves made some bodywork adjustments for this session and it worked, their times are coming down now.

Again like session one it was Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau who set the fastest time of 1:43.094, they had no problems, and there is more to come said the team.

A great free practice for Pekka Paivarinta and Adam Christie, they set the second fastest time of 1:44.271. The team did have some problems early on in the session trying to get some free track though.

Sam and Tom Christie set the third fastest time, a 1:44.768. They had no problems with their machine, but like a lot of teams found it hard to get free track space.

Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement were really happy with how the second session went; they have been working on chassis setup after the first session, making small changes. They set the fourth fastest time a 1:45.097.

Rounding of the top five is Markus Schlosser and Lucas Krieg, they have been working away steadily and things are getting better, they set a time of 1:45.181.

Tomorrow at 12.30 local time the only qualifying session will start, and at 15.35 there will be a n 11 lap race.

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Combined free practice

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Qualifying

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Qualifying report from Mark Walters

“Payne and Rousseau start tops”

Another sunny day for the sidecar teams in Le Mans.

Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau were last out on track, leaving it as late as possible; this gave them a good run with a clear track in front. Three laps in and they set the pole position time it was a 1:43.753.

Sam and Tom Christie were to set the second fastest time; it was a 1:44.093, again like yesterday they had a bit off trouble getting a clear run for this time.

Third fastest time went to Pekka Paivarinta and Adam Christie, they were in a group of three but it paid off, their time was 1:44.117.

Lewis Blackstock and Oscar Lawrence set the fourth fastest time of 1:44.427. Unfortunately for them their engine blew nearing the end of qualifying. The team are working flat out to change this before the first race.

A great qualifying for the all son and father team of Ted and Vincent Peugeot, they set the fifth fastest time of 1:44.743. They will be hoping for a great race result today on home soil and in front of the French crowd.

Apart from Payne and Rousseau in the 43’s the next six teams are all in the 44 bracket, with only 11 laps in the first race there should be some close racing.