Harry Payne won the 11-lap ‘sprint’ race at the opening round of the FIM Sidecar World Championship in France last weekend. 

Supported locally by EICS and Team Cubby, Payne and his French passenger Kevin Rousseau qualified second overall out of a very strong field of 25 crews. 

A Manx resident up until this year, Payne made a lightning start to the race at Le Mans on Friday afternoon and led from start finish to cross the line 4.9 seconds in front of 2021 world champions Markus Schlosser and Luca Schmidt. 

Reigning champions Todd Ellis and Emanuelle Clement (who are set to make their TT debut next month) were third a further six seconds back.

It was the first dry world championship race victory for Payne, who was elated with the result. 

‘This result was important. We had a tough time last year, but I knew something was missing . . . . ,’ said Harry. ‘For 2024 Steinhausen Racing have given us a really competitive bike. I think we can produce more results like this throughout the year.’    The main race took place on Saturday morning, ahead of the 24-hour solo race, and Payne/Rousseau made another cracking start to lead from Schlosser/Schmidt. 

They held onto this for 12 laps before an unfortunate coil stick fail forced them out. 

‘I’ve never had one fail before, and it’s not really something you can prepare for. It’s just one of those freak things that can happen,’ said Harry on Tuesday. 

The next round of the Sidecar World Championship is at the Sachsenring, Germany this weekend. You can follow Harry Payne and the Steinhausen Racing team by tuning into the livestream on YouTube.