The curtain came down on the 2024 World Sidecarcros Championship at La Colla in Italy at the weekend.
Race Report by Bradley Hix – Images courtesy of WSC
Qualifying – Group A
The all-important qualifying sessions kicked off proceedings for the last GP of the 2024 campaign, and this would include the likes of champion-elect, Vanluchene / Janssens, along with French sibling-pairing Prunier / Prunier, and 10-times world champion Willemsen / Gabor.
This session would set the line-up for gate pick later in the day, and it was to be Prunier / Prunier who qualified quickest of all, but with only one second covering the top-5 crews, it would suggest that the championship battle would go all the way down to the wire.
Qualifying – Group B
The second half of the protagonists for the 2024 crown would make their way out on to the circuit, with Vanluchene’s performance fresh in their mind – they knew all-too-well how important a good gate pick would be for the two races this afternoon. Hermans / van den Bogaart, with their eyes set on finishing the year on a high, would top the session with a lap time only 0.1 seconds ahead of the Latvian twins, and a strong lap from Prummer / Lebreton saw them complete the top-3 positions in the final qualifying session of the year.
Race 1
With only 2 races remaining in the 2024 world championship, it was all to play for with both Vanluchene / Janssens and the Lielbardis twins both in contention for the world title – Vanluchene gunning for his 3rd, and Lielbardis vying for their maiden title.
Drama was to unfold immediately with the #47 of Devoldere / Tournier finding themselves upside down before the first turn, but it was Hermans / van den Bogaart who took the initial advantage, however, the Prunier brothers of Killian and Evan, wo have shown tremendous speed this weekend, soon fought their way to the front to take the reigns on the race in the early stages. Vanluchene / Janssens would move into 2nd position by the completion of the opening lap, relegating Hermans / van den Bogaart to 3rd place. At this point, the Lielbardis twins of Daniels and Bruno were on the cusp of the top five, but nobody knew more so than themselves that this would not suffice in their championship bid.
An impressive start from the 10-times world champion, Willemsen / Gabor, saw them giving chase to Hermans, but the relentless consistency of the #3 crew saw them extend their margin throughout the duration of the event. Seemingly, throughout the mid-point of this first event, the Prunier’s were running away with the lead as they had over 5 seconds worth of clear track behind him, with the battle between the two championship rivals raging on, with absolutely nothing to separate the reigning champions of Vanluchene / Janssens, and the Latvian twins. Hermans / van den Bogaart were caught momentarily and were forced to restart their machine which cost them valuable seconds and all their work came undone – it was time to repeat the process.
A decisive move from the Lielbardis twins saw them snatch the second position from the clutches of Vanluchene, in front of the Latvian supporters which was much to their delight and excitement. The Jaws theme song was starting to commence as Hermans had the red mist and set about reducing their deficit to the crew ahead to further solidify their 3rd position in the world championship standings. With the clear track laid out before them, the Lielbardis’ knew that they had to make hay while the sun shone to reduce the gap in the overall standings, to give them better ground to stand on for the final race of the year.
On the couple of laps of this fantastic La Colla circuit, it was a 9-wheeler with the Prunier’s leading the Lielbardis’, and Hermans had certainly found his groove, almost riding on the passenger platform with Bruno Lielbardis, such was the proximity of the battle. An inspired overtake from Hermans in the dying stages of the final lap would see them promoted into 2nd position, relegating the Prunier brothers to the final step of the podium.
The chequered flag beckoned for the penultimate time of the season, and it was the Latvian championship hopefuls who took victory ahead of Hermans / van den Bogaart and French champions, Killian and Evan Prunier. With this result, the championship lead for Vanluchene / Jannsens would have been reduced to 24 points, but after investigation and an amendment to the final result, Hermans / van den Bogaart were to be excluded from the final result, along with ten other crews, due to jumping under yellow flags! With this twist in mind, Vanluchene / Janssens were promoted into 3rd position which would give them an insurmountable championship lead of 26 points with only 25 left on offer!
Race 1 Result
Race 2
With the championship settled, along with the top 6 positions confirmed for the 2024 world championship standings, the scene was set for the final race of the season. The Prunier brothers were certainly looking to go out with style after their earlier performance and Vanluchene would round off the year with high hopes due to the retention of the #1 plate going into 2025.
A symphony of 2 and 4 stroke machines echoed around the Italian hillside as 28 crews had their eyes set on the gate, which promptly dropped, coinciding with the dumping of clutches as they raced toward the difficult first turn. Once more, it was the French brotherly pairing of Killian and Evan Prunier who took the initial advantage ahead of Hermans / van den Bogaart, with Wilkinson / Millard making a much better start than in the opening race, slithering their way into 6th position.
As mentioned in commentary, Herman / van den Bogaart were converting their frustration from race one into adrenaline, as they sought about making amends after the issues that befell them earlier in the day. The Latvian twins of Lielbardis’ did not make the most impressive start of their career but in the grand scheme of the championship, it was not of high importance as their vice-champion position was confirmed.
Hermans / van den Bogaart soon found their way through on Prunier / Prunier and with empty track laid out before them, soon stretched their lead margin throughout the course of the final race of the season. By half-distance, Prunier / Prunier were coming under increasing pressure from the British champions, Wilkinson / Millard, who were hot off the back of their maiden GP victory in Rudersberg. At times, the French and British crews were side-by-side but their pressure was to reward them, as they swiftly moved up the leaderboard into 2nd place. It was a strong showing, too, for the #9 crew of Sanders / Steegmans who, throughout this period, were sitting comfortable in 4th position, five seconds ahead of Willemsen / Gabor.
With 2 laps remaining, Hermans / van den Bogaart were making amends after their earlier drama with an advantage of 17 seconds over Wilkinson / Millard, who in turn were over 10 seconds over early race leaders, Prunier / Prunier – a fantastic redemption for the British crew. 2024 championship winners, Vanluchene / Janssens, were having a smooth ride throughout this particular encounter, sitting pretty in 8th position and treating the final race of the season as a celebration race.
The chequered flag beckoned the arrival of Hermans / van den Bogaart who took the final win of the season and, with their runner-up spot earlier in the day, went on to take the overall GP victory – surely a sign of things to come in 2025? It has been a fantastic day at the races for the German and French pairing of Prummer / Lebreton, as they came home in 3rd position, to give themselves 4th overall.
Race 2 Result
GP Overall Result
Final Championship Standings
