2021 Sidecar World Championship

2021 FIM Sidecar World Championship.
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The 2021 Santander Salt FIM Sidecar World Championship is a motorcycle road racing championship for sidecar motorcycles and is the 72nd running of the Sidecar World Championship. It is recognised by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), the governing body of international motorcycle racing, as the highest class of competition for sidecar motorcycles.^[1] The championship is being contested across eight rounds, each consisting of two races, which will be held across Europe.^[2] Riders and teams will compete for the titles of FIM Sidecar World Champion Driver and FIM Sidecar World Champion Passenger respectively.^[3]

Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes are the reigning Driver and Passenger Sidecar World Champions respectively having won the championship in 2019.^[3] The 2020 Sidecar World Championship was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic^[4]

Entries[]

The following teams and riders will be competing in the 2021 World Championship.^[5]

Teams and Riders due to compete in the 2021 World Championship^[5] hide

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		Ilsa de Haas
Team Schlosser	LCR	Yamaha	3	Markus Schlosser		Marcel Fries
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 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		Emmanuel Clement
			35	Josef Sattler		Luca Schmidt
			77	Tim Reeves		Kevin Rousseau
Gustoil Sidecar Racing Team	LCR	Yamaha	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.^{[citation needed]}

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 Richardson of Santander Salt.^{[citation needed]}

Scott Lawrie is due to return to the championship in 2021 with former Bennie Streuer passenger, Ilse de Haas.^{[citation needed]}

Notable absentees are five times World Champion Pekka Päivärinta and four times World Champions Ben & Tom Birchall.^{[citation needed]}

Calendar[]

The 2021 calendar consists of 8 rounds, each round consisting of 2 races of equal length.^[6]

2021 Calendar^[2]

Round	Race	Dates	Country	Circuit
1	1	11 June	France	Circuit Bugatti, Le Mans
	2	12 June
2	1	26 June	Hungary	Pannonia-Ring, Ostffyasszonyfa
	2	27 June
3	1	3 July	United Kingdom	Donington Park, Castle Donington
	2	4 July
4	1	24 July	Netherlands	TT Circuit Assen, Assen
	2	25 July
5	1	21 July	Croatia	Automotodrom Grobnik, Rijeka
	2	22 July
6	1	2 October	Germany	Motorsport Arena Oschersleben, Oschersleben
	2	3 October
7	1	16 October	United Kingdom	Brands Hatch, West Kingsdown
	2	17 October
8	1	30 October	Portugal	Circuito do Estoril, Estoril
	2	31 October

The French round in Le Mans will be part of the 2021 24 Heures Motos event with the FIM Endurance World Championship.^[7]

The British (Donington Park) and Dutch rounds will be part of the United Kingdom and Netherlands FIM Superbike World Championship events.^[2]

The Second British round (Brands Hatch) will be part of the British Superbike finale event.^[2][8]

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.^[6] 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.^[9]

Calendar expansions and changes from 2019 to 2021[]

The championship will return to Donington Park after a 5 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.^[10]

Similarly, the championship will return to Brands Hatch after a 6 year absence, again, as part of a British Superbike event.^[11]

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.^[2]

The remaining four events of the 2021 calendar were all part of the 2019 championship.^[12]

Championship changes[]

The 2020 World Championship was due to be the first organised and run by new series promoter, RKB-F1 Motorsport^[13] 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.^[4] 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 70km (43.5mi) and maximum of 85km (52.8mi) in length; and a Sprint Race that was a minimum of 35km (21.7mi) and maximum of 45km (28mi) in length.^[14] 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 70km (43.5mi) and maximum of 85km (52.8mi) in length.^[1]

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.^[1]

Technical Regulations[]

Although not outlawed explicitly previously, the use of a Drive-By-Wire system has been confirmed as legal for the 2021 championship.^[1]

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.^[15] 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.^[16]

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.^[17]

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.^[17]

Results and Standings[]

Races[]

Round	Country	Race	Pole Position	Fastest Lap	Winning Rider/Passenger	Report
1	France	1				Report
		2
2	Hungary	1				Report
		2
3	United Kingdom	1				Report
		2
4	Netherlands	1				Report
		2
5	Croatia	1				Report
		2
6	Germany	1				Report
		2
7	United Kingdom	1				Report
		2
8	Portugal	1				Report
		2
Sources:

World Championship Standings[]

Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider has to finish the race to earn points. If a race has been declared were less than two-thirds of the original race distance was completed, half points will be awarded. For the final round the points awarded will be multiplied by a factor of 1.5.^[1]

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

Pos.	Rider/Passenger	FRA		HUN		GBR		NED		CRO		DEU		GBR		POR		Pts.
		1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2
1	Maclaurin/Hope
=	Endeveld/Crome
=	Barbier/Rigondeau
=	Lawrie/de Haas
=	Schlosser/Fries
=	Cable/Masters
=	Kershaw/Charlwood
=	Kimeswenger/Kölsch
=	Blackstock/Rosney
=	Ellis/Richardson
=	Gallerne/Druel
=	Holden/Pitt
=	Fretay/Casas
=	Streuer/Clément
=	Sattler/Schmidt
=	Reeves/Rousseau
=	Wyssen/Hofer
=	Remse/Wechselberger
=	Peugeot/Peugeot
Pos.	Rider/Passenger	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	1	2	Pts.
		FRA		HUN		GBR		NED		CRO		DEU		GBR		POR
Sources:

References[]