Payne and Rousseau dominate Sidecar World Championship opener at Le Mans

2026 Sidecar World Championship

Round One – Le Mans

Former champions Harry Payne and Kevin Rousseau have drawn first blood in the 2026 FIM Sidecar World Championship, sweeping both races at Le Mans as the six-round series got underway alongside the 24 Heures Motos.

Payne and Rousseau set the tone from the outset and backed it up when the points were on offer, taking Friday’s 11-lap sprint before completing the double in Saturday’s restarted main race. In the opening encounter, they headed reigning champions Sam and Tom Christie by 0.977s, with Pekka Päivärinta and Adam Christie third, while Markus Schlosser and Lucas Krieg, then Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clément, completed the top five.

2026 FIM Sidecar World Championship – Le Mans (France) – Image by Mark Walters

Saturday’s main race was interrupted by a red flag and reduced to a five-lap second start, but the result at the front remained the same. Payne and Rousseau again controlled proceedings, this time beating Päivärinta and Adam Christie by 4.750s, with Sam and Tom Christie third. Ellis and Clément were fourth, Ted and Vincent Peugeot fifth, and Schlosser and Krieg sixth.

Queenslander Corey Turner arrived in Europe after a difficult lead-up, then had to reshuffle again when brother and regular passenger Danyon Turner damaged his wrist in a testing crash and underwent surgery in Paris. German Luca Schmidt was drafted in late, and the pair set about learning quickly at world championship level.

There was also strong support behind the scenes for the Aussie duo as they took on the sidecar world stage. British company BM Refinishing played a key role in assisting the Turner brothers during their time in Europe, while sidecar legend Tim Reeves provided advice and guidance as Corey Turner and Luca Schmidt worked to get up to speed. That support helped them bank two valuable finishes against the odds, with the pair coming home 13th in Friday’s sprint before improving to 11th in Saturday’s restarted main race, missing the top ten by less than a second as they continued to build experience aboard the ARS Yamaha.

It was a solid reward for simply getting to the grid after a disrupted lead-in, and the weekend gave Turner and Schmidt an important base to work from before round two at Grobnik-Rijeka in Croatia on May 9-10.

Race One Results

Not classified: Williams / Kölsch (6 laps), Moreau / Roba (6 laps), Blackstock / Lawrence (2 laps).
Did not start: Laidlow / Laidlow, Streuer / Vissenberg.

Podium at 2026 FIM Sidecar World Championship – Le Mans (France) – Image by Mark Walters

Race Two Results