10/08/2026
✌️ Team Christie Racing on top as FIM Sidecar World Championship returns to Italy
The battle for the 2026 FIM Sidecar World Championship took another twist this weekend (7-9 August) when the series moved into the second half of the season at Cremona in northern Italy where leaders Harrison Payne (ARS Yamaha) and Kevin Rousseau suffered a race-two DNF that handed overall victory to defending champions Sam and Thomas Christie (LCR Yamaha) and dramatically shook up the title race.
A ruptured fuel pipe saw the 2024 champions retire while leading during the closing stages of Sunday’s Main race. After victory in the previous day’s Sprint race had allowed the British/French pairing to stretch their lead to twenty-and-a-half points, their DNF then slashed this advantage to just four-and-a-half ahead of Finnish rider Pekka Päivärinta (ARS Yamaha) and his British passenger Adam Christie with the Christie brothers a further eleven points off the pace in third.
After topping Qualification by almost a second as the championship made a successful return to Italy following a twenty-three-year absence, Payne/Rousseau started the twelve-lap Sprint race from the front of the grid and they led into the opening turn chased by the Christie brothers, the French son and father team of Ted and Vincent Peugeot (LCR Yamaha) and Päivärinta/Christie.
Swiss rider Markus Schlosser (LCR Yamaha) and his German passenger Lucas Krieg were also in contention along with the French team of Paul Leglise (LCR Yamaha) and Marjorie Cescutti, but with an empty track ahead Payne/Rousseau started to edge clear.
A gap also began to develop between Christie/Christie and Peugeot/Peugeot who found themselves under pressure from Päivärinta/Christie until the veteran Finn made a decisive move for third as Schlosser/Krieg circulated in a lonely fifth.
At the flag it was Payne/Rousseau with a comfortable lead of almost ten-and-a-half seconds over the Christie brothers with Päivärinta/Christie another one-and-a-half seconds adrift in third before a gap to Peugeot/Peugeot and Schlosser/Krieg with the German/French team of Patrick Werkstetter (ARS Yamaha) and Pirat Valentin completing the top six.
With Sunday’s Main race duration cut from twenty to eighteen laps because of the intense heat, Payne/Rousseau repeated their lightning start of the previous day to lead the field away from the start ahead of the Christie brothers, Peugeot/Peugeot, Päivärinta/Christie and Schlosser/Krieg.
Once again the 2024 champions began to put clear air between themselves and the chasing pack, but the Christie brothers were fighting a furious rearguard action against a determined Peugeot/Peugeot who in turn were pulling away from Päivärinta/Christie and Schlosser/Krieg.
With battles throughout the field, including an intense three-way confrontation between Leglise/Cescutti, the Netherlands’ Bennie Streuer (ARS Yamaha) and Manon Vissenberg and Australian siblings Corey and Danyon Turner (ARS Yamaha), the tension was rapidly rising.
Then on lap fifteen, flames could be seen coming from Payne/Rousseau’s outfit and they were forced to pull over to extinguish the fire. With the safety car coming out to lead the field home, no further overtaking was allowed and victory in the race and for the weekend went to the clearly delighted Christie brothers.
Peugeot/Peugeot were also delighted to claim second – just over half-a-second in arrears – for second overall and their first podium finish together with Päivärinta/Christie third for third overall. Schlosser and Krieg ended the race in fourth ahead of Streuer/Vissenberg and the Turner brothers.
The championship now takes a six-week break before the fifth and penultimate round is staged at the legendary Assen circuit in the Netherlands on 18-20 September.
All the action from Assen and the deciding round at Oschersleben in Germany on 2-4 October will be streamed LIVE on FIM-MOTO.TV along with behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and expert analysis.