2021 Sidecar World Championship

2021 FIM Sidecar World Championship.

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The 2021 Santander Salt FIM Sidecar World Championship was the 72nd season of the Sidecar World Championship. The championship was won by Markus Schlosser and Marcel Fries of Switzerland. The season was contested across seven rounds, six rounds consisting of two races, and the final round in Estoril with three races.

Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes entered the season as the reigning Driver and Passenger Sidecar World Champions respectively having won the championship in 2019. The 2020 Sidecar World Championship was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Entries

The following teams and riders will be competing in the 2021 World Championship.

Teams and Riders due to compete in the 2021 World Championship

Team	Chassis	Engine	No.	Rider	Rounds	Passenger	Rounds
AMR	Adolf RS	Yamaha	25	Matt Maclaurin		Adrian Hope
Drugsadvies Sidecarshop Racing	LCR	Yamaha	2	Kees Endeveld		Hendrik Crome
Team FB Superside	LCR	Yamaha	32	Franck Barbier		Mickael Rigondeau
Team SLR	LCR	Yamaha	72	Scott Lawrie		Ilse de Haas
Cable Racing L&W Contractors Sidecar Team	LCR	Yamaha	112	Kevin Cable		Kyle Masters
Kershaw Racing	LCR	Yamaha	29	Stephen Kershaw		Ryan Charlwood
MRSC Gunskirchen	LCR	Yamaha	11	Peter Kimeswenger		Kevin Kölsch
Dave Holden Racing	LCR	Yamaha	95	Lewis Blackstock		Patrick Rosney
Santander Salt	LCR	Yamaha	6	Todd Ellis		Charlie 'Chaz' Richardson
Team Gallerne	RCN	Kawasaki	7	Philippe Gallerne		Yann Druel
Holden Racing	ARS	Yamaha	3	John Holden		Jason Pitt
FHC Competition	LCR	Yamaha	78	Hugo Fretay		Joaquim Fenoy Casas
Bonovo Action by MGM	Adolf RS	Yamaha	21	Bennie Streuer		Emmanuelle Clément
			35	Josef Sattler		Luca Schmidt
			77	Tim Reeves		Kevin Rousseau
Gustoil Sidecar Racing Team	LCR	Yamaha	3	Markus Schlosser		Marcel Fries
			41	Lukas Wyssen		Thomas Hofer
Remse Racing	Adolf RS	Yamaha	55	Janez Remse		Manfred Wechselberger
Perillat and Peugeot Racing Team	LCR	Yamaha	74	Ted Peugeot		Vincent Peugeot

Team and Rider Changes

Superbike World Championship team, Bonovo Action by MGM Racing, will be making its Sidecar World Championship debut in 2021, fielding three bikes run by eight times World Champion Tim Reeves with passenger Kevin Rousseau; 2015 World Champion Bennie Streuer with new passenger, Emmanuel Clement and former Internationalen Deutschen Motorradmeisterschaft/Interessengemeinschaft Gespannrennen (IDM/IGG) Sidecar champion Josef Sattler with passenger Luca Schmidt.

Other teams scheduled to make their World Championship debut include AMR, Cable Racing L&W Contractors Sidecar Team, 2020 British F1 Sidecar Championship winning team, Kershaw Racing and 2020 International Sidecar SuperPrix winners Todd Ellis and Charlie 'Chaz' Richardson of Santander Salt.

Scott Lawrie is due to return to the championship in 2021 with former Bennie Streuer passenger, Ilse de Haas.

Calendar

The 2021 calendar consisted of 7 rounds, each round consisting of 2 races of equal length.

Round	Date	Country	Circuit
1	11-12 June	France	Circuit Bugatti, Le Mans
2	26-27 June	Hungary	Pannónia-Ring, Ostffyasszonyfa
3	3-4 July	England	Donington Park, Castle Donington
4	24-25 July	Netherlands	TT Circuit Assen, Assen
5	21-22 July	Croatia	Automotodrom Grobnik, Rijeka
6	2-3 October	Germany	Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, Oschersleben
7	29-31 October	Portugal	Circuito do Estoril, Estoril

The French round in Le Mans was part of the 2021 24 Heures Motos event with the FIM Endurance World Championship. The British (Donington Park) and Dutch rounds was part of the United Kingdom and Netherlands FIM Superbike World Championship events. The Second British round initially scheduled to take place from 15 to 17 October at Brands Hatch was to be part of the British Superbike finale event before it was cancelled. The Racing Commission made the decision to award double points for the final two races of the season to be held in Estoril on 29-31 October.

Calendar changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic

The provisional 2021 season calendar was announced on 7 January 2021, with 8 rounds scheduled. This included two rounds with the FIM Endurance World Championship, the 24 Heures Motos and Bol d'Or events, an unconfirmed round on 23 - 25 April, but not the two Superbike World Championship events. On 9 February 2021 it was announced that the World Sidecar Championship would no longer be part of the 2021 Bol d'Or event due to a lack of sufficient track time and facilities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated problems.

Calendar expansions and changes from 2019 to 2021

The championship will return to Donington Park after a five-year absence. Along with Dutch round, this will be the first time since Spain 2014 that the World Sidecar Championship will be part of a Superbike World Championship round.

Similarly, the championship will return to Brands Hatch after a six-year absence, again, as part of a British Superbike event.

The Portuguese round at the Circuito do Estoril, made its debut as the final event of the 2019 championship and has been scheduled again as the final event in 2021.

The remaining four events of the 2021 calendar were all part of the 2019 championship.

Championship changes

The 2020 World Championship was due to be the first organised and run by new series promoter, RKB-F1 Motorsport who was brought on by the FIM to run the World Championship after successfully running the British F1 Sidecar championship for several years. However, RKB-F1 Motorsport and the FIM were forced to cancel the 2020 World Championship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 World Championship will be this first to be organised and run by RKB-F1 Motorsport.

Race Weekend Structure

Previously the World Championship utilised two race formats; a Gold Race that was a minimum of 70 km (43.5 mi) and maximum of 85 km (52.8 mi) in length; and a Sprint Race that was a minimum of 35 km (21.7 mi) and maximum of 45 km (28 mi) in length. Rounds would then consist of either, a single Gold Race or both a Gold Race and a Sprint Race. For the 2021 World Championship each round will consist of two races of equal length that is a minimum of 7 0km (43.5 mi) and maximum of 85 km (52.8 mi) in length.

Sporting Regulations

The Sidecar World Championship will continue to use the MotoGP style points system, with points being awarded down to 15th place. For the final round of the 2021 World Champions the points allocated, for both races, will be multiplied by a factor of 1.5.

Technical Regulations

Although not outlawed explicitly previously, the use of a Drive-By-Wire system has been confirmed as legal for the 2021 championship.

Season Summary

Pre-season

A number of the teams took part in five days of pre-season testing beginning on 22 March at the Circuit du Val de Vienne in France. Several teams also organised their own private tests as well as an official RKB-F1 Motorsport organised test at the Snetterton circuit in the UK over the weekend of 10 & 11 April 2021 for British based teams unable to travel to mainland Europe because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.

On 27 March During a French Superbike Championship Sidecar race at Le Mans, Josef Sattler with stand in passenger Ilse de Haas lost the bike under braking and crashed. Sattler injuring his collarbone and ribs, de Haas suffering concussion and broken ribs also.

On 9 April 2021 at a private test organised by the Bonovo Action by MGM team at Oschersleben, Streuer/Clément crashed heavily as a result of suspected suspension failure. After initial medical assistance at the circuit, Streuer was taken by Helicopter to hospital in near by Magdeburg. It was confirmed Streuer had broken a number of vertebrae in the crash and underwent surgery three days later. Clément was thrown into the air during the impact but did not suffer any significant injuries.

Results and Standings

Races

Round	Location	Race	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Rider/Passenger	Winning Team	Winning chassis/constructor	Report
1	Circuit Bugatti	1	Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Todd Ellis / Emmanuelle Clément	Tim Reeves / Kevin Rousseau	Team Bonovo Action	Adolf-RS-Yamaha	Report
		2		Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Gustoil Sidecar Racing Team	LCR-Yamaha
2	Pannónia-Ring	1	Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Gustoil Sidecar Racing Team	LCR-Yamaha	Report
		2		Tim Reeves / Kevin Rousseau	Tim Reeves / Kevin Rousseau	Team Bonovo Action	Adolf-RS-Yamaha
3	Donington Park	1	Todd Ellis / Emmanuelle Clément	Tim Reeves / Kevin Rousseau	Todd Ellis / Emmanuelle Clément	Santander Salt Sidecar Team	LCR-Yamaha	Report
		2		Todd Ellis / Emmanuelle Clément	Stephen Kershaw / Ryan Charlwood	Kershaw Racing	LCR-Yamaha
4	TT Circuit Assen	1	Todd Ellis / Emmanuelle Clément	Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Gustoil Sidecar Racing Team	LCR-Yamaha	Report
		2		Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Gustoil Sidecar Racing Team	LCR-Yamaha
5	Automotodrom Grobnik	1	Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Todd Ellis / Emmanuelle Clément	Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Gustoil Sidecar Racing Team	LCR-Yamaha	Report
		2		Tim Reeves / Kevin Rousseau	Tim Reeves / Kevin Rousseau	Team Bonovo Action	Adolf-RS-Yamaha
6	Motorsport Arena Oschersleben	1	Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Gustoil Sidecar Racing Team	LCR-Yamaha	Report
		2		Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Markus Schlosser / Marcel Fries	Gustoil Sidecar Racing Team	LCR-Yamaha
7	Circuito do Estoril	1	Tim Reeves / Kevin Rousseau	Ben Birchall / Tom Birchall	Ben Birchall / Tom Birchall	Birchall Racing	LCR-Honda	Report
		2		Tim Reeves / Kevin Rousseau	Harry Payne / Mark Wilkes	Kelproperties.im Team #45	Adolf-RS-Yamaha
		3		Ben Birchall / Tom Birchall	Tim Reeves / Kevin Rousseau	Team Bonovo Action	Adolf-RS-Yamaha
Sources:

World Championship standings

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider had to finish the race to earn points. If a race were to be stopped with less than two-thirds of the original race distance completed, half points was to be awarded. For the final two races of the season in Estoril double points were awarded.

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th
Points	25	20	16	13	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

Riders' championship

Pos. Driver Passenger Bike FRA HUN GBR NED CRO GER POR Pts. R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 1 Markus Schlosser Marcel Fries LCR-Yamaha 2 1 1 1 2 DNF 1 1 1 2 1 1 12 3 3 328 2 Todd Ellis Emmanuelle Clément LCR-Yamaha 3 2 3 2 1 3 DNF 2 2 3 2 3 3 5 4 269 3 Pekka Päivärinta Ilse de Haas LCR-Yamaha 4 3 2 3 3 5 8 4 5 5 5 5 4 4 5 218 4 Stephen Kershaw Ryan Charlwood LCR-Yamaha 5 7 DNF 5 DNF 1 2 3 3 4 6 7 8 2 6 212 5 Tim Reeves Kevin Rousseau Adolf RS-Yamaha 1 5 DNF DSQ 4 2 3 DNF DNF 1 3 2 DNF DNF 1 196 6 Lukas Wyssen Thomas Hofer LCR-Yamaha 6 6 6 6 7 8 6 7 10 8 7 6 12 128 7 Bennie Streuer Jeroen Remmé Adolf RS-Yamaha DSQ DNF 4 6 4 4 2 7 7 105 8 Harry Payne Mark Wilkes LCR-Yamaha 8 8 5 7 6 1 DNF 96 9 Ben Birchall Tom Birchall LCR-Honda 1 9 2 79 10 Robb Biggs Jeroen Schmitz LCR-Yamaha 6 5 8 11 9 8 10 78 11 Claude Vinet Cyril Vinet LCR-Yamaha 9 10 70 Damien Common LCR-Yamaha 11 DNF Melanie Farnier LCR-Yamaha 8 9 15 13 10 10 11 12 Ted Peugeot Vincent Peugeot LCR-Yamaha 7 4 4 6 7 6 64 13 Peter Kimeswenger Kevin Kölsch LCR-Yamaha 7 8 7 8 11 10 46 14 Kees Endeveld Hendrik Crome LCR-Yamaha 8 8 5 7 DNF 9 DNS DNF 12 DNF 45 15 Janez Remše Manfred Wechselberger Adolf RS-Yamaha 8 9 9 10 13 DNF 31 16 Kevin Cable Max Vasseur LCR-Yamaha DNF DNF DNF 10 11 DNF 9 10 30 Kyle Masters LCR-Yamaha 14 12 17 Stephane Gadet Clotilde Salmon LCR-Kawasaki 11 12 30 Valentin Pirat LCR-Kawasaki 11 11 13 18 Craig Currie Justin Sharp LCR-Yamaha 5 DNF 8 27 19 Josef Sattler Luca Schmidt Adolf RS-Yamaha 4 4 DNS DNS 26 20 Sam Cristie Adam Cristie LCR-Yamaha 7 7 20 21 Lewis Blackstock Patrick Rosney LCR-Yamaha 6 6 20 22 Philippe Le Bail Serge Leveau LCR-Yamaha 10 9 DNF DNS 14 17 23 Scott Lawrie Shelley Smithies LCR-Yamaha 9 9 14 24 Paul Leglise Sebastien Lavorel LCR-Yamaha DNF DNS 9 14 25 Thomas Philip Tom Bryant LCR-Yamaha DNF 4 13 26 John Holden Jason Pitt Adolf RS-Yamaha DNF 9 13 27 Rupert Archer Philip Hyde Adolf RS-Yamaha 10 10 12 28 Philippe Gallerne Yann Druel RCN-Kawasaki 13 11 10 Nicholas Bidault RCN-Kawasaki DNF 14 29 George Holden Oscar Lawrence LCR-Suzuki 9 DNF 7 30 Benjamin Luneau Nicholas Bidault LCR-Yamaha 10 DNF 6 30 Hugo Fretay Joaquim Fenoy Casas LCR-Yamaha 12 DNF 4 31 Franck Barbier Mickael Rigondeau LCR-Yamaha DNF DNS 0 Pos. Driver Passenger Bike FRA HUN GBR NED CRO GER POR Pts.

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole position Italics – Fastest lap