FIM World Sidecar Championship 2026 Le Mans

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Sprint race

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Race one report from Mark Walters

“Payne and Rousseau take race one win”

After a crash in qualifying the Laidlow Brothers Sam and Jack would not start the 11 lap race. Passenger Jack, after medical checks has been hospitalised needing surgery to a foot. Also Bennie Streuer and Manon Visssenberg would not start after another engine problem in qualifying.

Still the sun shone as the red lights went out for the start.

Straight away Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau had the clear track and they had the lead from Sam and Tom Christie, Pekka Paivarinta and Adam Christie had good drive from their third spot on the grid and were drawing alongside the Christie Brothers Sam and Tom, but they were to come out of the first chicane still in second spot. Markus Schlosser and Lucas Krieg slotted into fourth spot with Ted and Vincent Peugeot in fifth. Lewis Blackstock and Oscar Lawrence were sixth just ahead of Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement. Markus Venus and Thomas Hofer were eighth. Paul Leglise and Margorie Cescutti were next up with Luke Williams and Kevin Kolsch, tenth. Tim Reeves and Melanie Farnier were next with Manuel Moreau and Alice Roba behind them. Claude Vinet and Leane Marsal were just in front of Cyril and Gerald Vinet. Wiggert Kranenburg and Loris Charteau in fifteenth. Corey Turner and Luca Schmidt were just in front of Lewis Nicol and Clement Conil who were running beside Kevin Cable and Yann Druel. Paul Kirby and Ema Salmon were running on the opposite side of Nicol and Conil with Raymond Leudekkers and Oceane Bataille right on the inside line.Michael Brillault and Fabrice Deturche were just in front of Ulric Brillault and Cora Marsal with Philippe Gallerne and Max Vasseur bringing up the rear.

By lap two Payne and Rousseau had pulled out a good lead on the rest of the field, the next four teams were holding station then there was another gap back to Schlosser and Krieg, Blackstock and Lawrence, Leglise and Cescutti, Reeves and Farnier had a problem they slowed dramatically letting Williams and Kolsch through, Kirby and Salmon were right up with Reeves and Farnier looking like a pass was on but the problem Reeves/Farnier had cleared itself and they got back on the pace. Blackstock and Lawrence at the end of lap two pulled off with their machine on fire, track marshals running to extinguish it.

Lap six, Moreau and Roba pulled in with gear change problems.
Lap six also saw an incident when Williams and Kolsch spun and contact was made with Leglise and Cesscutti, but they managed to get back to pit lane and re-join with a new wheel arch. Williams and Kolsch DNF.

As the top six teams passed to start their seventh lap the safety car came out in front of Reeves and Farnier, the rest of the field were starting to bunch up behind them. Again the top six teams came round albeit a lot slower. This went on until with only one lap to go the safety car came in leaving the top six teams having a one lap dash to the chequred flag. However with the safety car in front of the rest of the field, the gap was too big for any of them to fight for a podium place.

In the end it was Payne and Rousseau who took the win from the Christie Brothers Sam and Tom, they also had the fastest lap of the race, a time of 1:43.308. Paivarinta and Christie took third. Schlosser/ Krieg managed to pass Ellis and Clement on the last lap for fourth place. A great sixth place for the Peugeot’s .

Reeves and Farnier took seventh with team mates Kirby and Salmon making up good places after their bad start, eighth.

Venus and Hofer took ninth just in front of Vinet/Vinet. Nicol and Conil were eleventh with Cable and Druel twelth. Turner and Schmidt thirteenth with Vinet and Marsal fourtheenth. Kranenburg and Charteau took fifteenth with Leudekkers and Bataille sixteenth.
17th, 18th and 19th places went respectfully to Brillault/ Deturche, Gallerne/Vasseur, Brillault/Marsal.

One lap down Leglise and Cescutti got to the finish in twentieth place.

There was no podium today, two podiums tomorrow after the 18 lap race.

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Race two

Five lap dash after restart

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Race two report from Mark Walters

“Payne and Rousseau double up”

The sun was shining once again, there was a slight breeze and the stands were packed.

18 laps was going to be a long race for the sidecar teams, but they were all rearing to go and put a good show on for the spectators.

The lights went out and Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau started the way they left off yesterday, straight into the lead. There was a right old bunched up field behind them. But everybody got through safely.

Sam and Tom Christie slotted into second behind Payne and Rousseau, Ted and Vincent Peugeot got a great start and were up to third in front of Pekka Paivarinta and Adam Christie. Markus Schlosser and Lucas Krieg were fourth with Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement right on their tail. Paul Leglise and Marjorie Cescutti were working late last night on their machine, they were in seventh. Tim Reeves and Melanie Farnier were in eighth place with Markus Venus and Thomas Hofer ninth, Manuel Moreau and Alice Roba were tenth. Paul Kirby and Ema Salmon had a better start than yesterday they were sitting in eleventh with Cyril and Gerald Vinet just behind, Kevin Cable and Yann Druel were next up with Corey Turner and Luca Schmidt slotting into fourteenth place. Lewis Nicol and Clement Conil were just in front of Bennie Streuer and Manon Vissenberg. There was a small gap then it was Raymond Leijdekkers and Oceane Bataille just in front of Claude Vinet and Leane Marsal. Next up was Wiggert Kranenburg and Loris Charteau, Michael Brillault and Fabrice Deturche were just in front of Ulric Brillault and Cora Marsal. Philippe Gallerne and Max Vasseur were at the back of the field.

Payne and Rousseau were out on their own but there was some fair old battles going on behind them. The Christie Brothers were trying to fend off a determined Paivarinta and Christie who had got passed the Peugeot’s. Also Schlosser and Krieg had passed Ellis and Clement but Ellis and Clement were determined to stay in front, Reeves and Farnier were catching these two teams. Kirby and Salmon had upped their pace and were leading Moreau and Roba with Venus and Hofer behind them.

Kranenburg and Charteau pulled off with a broken sidecar wheel, the centre had come out.

Lewis Blackstock and Oscar Lawrence were having big problems with their machine, it kept cutting out, the team think it could be a damaged wire from yesterday.

With eight laps gone the red flags came out. Nicol and Conil had turned their machine upside down. Passenger Conil was taken to the medical centre with a dislocated shoulder.

There would be a restart race over five laps.

Payne and Rousseau took the lead and kept it. The Christie Brothers were second again to but Paivarinta and Christie were on their case, they did pass to take second and started to pull away from the Christie Brothers.

Ellis and Clement were right in the mix and were in fourth place in front of the Peugeot’s, with Schlosser and Kreig fending off Reeves and Farnier. Leglise and Cescutti were not doing as well as they were in the first part of the race, they were fending off Venus and Hofer.

There was a good battle going on between Kirby and Salmon, Cable and Druel, Turner and Schmidt.

The Vinet’s were having a battle with Moreau and Roba and Streuer and Vissenberg.

By the end of the race it was Payne and Rousseau who took another good win and the fastest lap of the race too, a time of 1:43.067. The team were delighted with this.

Paivarinta and Christie took a great second place out on their own, the Christie Brothers on their own too, a great third.

Ellis and Clement took a good fourth in front of the Peugeot’s fifth.
Schlosser and Krieg held onto sixth with Reeves and Farnier seventh.

Leglise and Cescutti were a fair bit behind Reeves and Farnier, but they were happy with eighth.

Venus and Hofer got the better of Kirby and Salmon for ninth, they were really happy with this and enjoyed the race.

Turner and Schmidt took Eleventh and the team were really happy with this result, things are starting to get better with their machine now.
The Vinet’s fought hard and took a good twelfth after fighting their way up and passing Moreau and Roba, Streuer and Vissenberg took fourteenth ahead of Cable and Druel.

Blackstock and Lawrence fought all through the race with their machine coughing and spluttering, the team think it could be a problem with the kill switch, they took a hard sixteenth.

The next four teams took 17th through to twentieth place respectfully.

Leijdekkers and Bataille, Brillault and Deturche, Brillaille and Marsal, Gallerne and Vasseur.

It has been a hard weekend for some sidecar teams, broken bikes, injuries. Hopefully they can be all sorted for the next round in Croatia in two weeks time.

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Summary from Mark Walters

Former champions Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau got their quest to regain the FIM Sidecar World!

Championship title off to a perfect start after dominating Qualifying and both points-scoring races when the 2026 series got under way at the Circuit Bugatti in Le Mans, France, at the weekend.

Staged as part of the iconic 24 Heures Motos, the opening event in the six-round series gave fans an early indication of which crews have been working hard over the winter break and the British/French pairing – champions in 2024 – had clearly put the hours in during the off-season, shrugging off determined challenges from defending champions Sam and Thomas Christie and veteran Finn Pekka Päivärinta with Adam Christie, the third of the British brothers, in the chair.

Following a close-fought Qualifying that saw the leading five crews separated by less than a second, Payne/Rousseau led the eleven-lap Sprint race on Friday (17 April) into the first turn with Päivärinta/Christie slotting into second ahead of Christie/Christie and Switzerland’s Markus Schlosser with new German passenger Lucas Krieg.

With the leading pair beginning to gap the chasing pack, the British team of Lewis Blackstock and Oliver Lawrence – who claimed a race podium on their sole championship appearance last season – were forced to pull out when their outfit caught fire.

Just after half-distance the safety car came out for another incident and remained on the circuit until one lap remained before Payne/Rousseau opened their account with maximum points ahead of Christie/Christie and Päivärinta/Christie as Schlosser/Krieg took fourth from the British/French pairing of Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clément with a pass on the final lap.

The following morning the crews rolled up to the startline for the concluding eighteen-lap Main race and Payne/Rousseau once again put their outfit into the lead chased by the Christie brothers and the French son and father team of Ted and Vincent Peugeot along with Päivärinta/Christie and Schlosser/Krieg.

With the leading pair looking good for another twenty-five points, the red flags came out following a crash involving the British/French pairing of Lewis Nicol and Clément Conil that forced a restart over a five-lap race distance.

Payne/Rousseau made sure their earlier form was not wasted as they immediately re-established their position at the front of the field with the Christie brothers losing an initial second to Päivärinta/Christie. Ellis/Clément and Peugeot/Peugeot fought for fourth ahead of Schlosser/Krieg who led Britain’s multi-time champion Tim Reeves – who last won the FIM Sidecar Rider World Champion title in 2019 – with France’s Mélanie Farnier in the sidecar.

With the gaps between the leaders lengthening, Payne/Rousseau brought it home almost five seconds clear of Päivärinta/Christie with the Christie brothers almost two seconds further adrift in third before another sizeable gap to Ellis/Clément and Peugeot/Peugeot.

The focus now switches to Grobnik-Rijeka in Croatia where round two will take place over the weekend of 9-10 May.

Selected rounds of the 2026 FIM Sidecar World Championship will be streamed LIVE on FIM-MOTO.TV.
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