Ellis and Clement win in Germany to extend World Sidecar Championship lead

Emmanuelle Clement (left) and Todd Ellis are so close to title glory. Photo by Wally Walters.

Free practice was run in very poor conditions on Saturday and although the weather improved for qualifying the conditions were still tricky.

Ellis and Clement were third in first qualifying but by the time they went out for the final session the track had dried which enabled them to secure pole position for the first of the two races.

The sun was out and the track dry for the start of race one and Schlosser/Fries leapt into the lead with Ellis and Clement following closely in their tyre tracks.

However Schlosser’s lead was short-lived and Ellis and Clement swept past them to establish the lead. They were nearly three seconds ahead when the black clouds returned and the heavens opened. As all competitors were on slick tyres the race was red flagged and a result declared on positions at the end of lap 14.

This meant that Ellis and Clement had taken the win and the 25 points which extended their championship lead by an extra five points.

Starting the second race on Sunday from pole position once again and with no sign of rain clouds, the riders took their positions on the grid. But again Schlosser/Fries got away first, this time followed by Streuer/Kolsch. Ellis and Clement were in third place but soon made it up to second in their efforts to catch the leaders.

They briefly took the lead on lap six but Schlosser fought back and went ahead once again. The two outfits were in close company with less than a second covering them both but on lap 16 of 21 Ellis made a pass and this time he made it stick and there was no coming back for Schlosser this time.

Once ahead Ellis and Clement pushed on to extend their lead to over a second over their rivals and the two outfits pulled well clear of the pack. At the flag Ellis and Clement took their second win of the weekend with an advantage of 0.9s to extend their series lead to 51 points over Schlosser/Fries.

The final round to decide which of the two challengers will be crowned World Champion is at Estoril in Portugal on October 30. But with double points (100) on offer it is in no way certain which of the two teams will lift the trophy.