Sidecars: Payne & Rousseau prepare for Austria GP

Manxman and passenger currently fifth in world championship standings

Manx sidecar competitor, Harry Payne and passenger, Kevin Rousseau are preparing to return to action in the FIM Sidecar World Championship in Europe this weekend.

The Steinhausen Racing duo are set to take part in the fourth round of the series - the Austrian Grand Prix - at the Red Bull Ring from tomorrow until Sunday (4-6 August).

The pairing sit fifth in the championship standings going into the weekend with eight races remaining - current Sidecar TT champions, Ben and Tom Birchall, sit top of the pile on 140 points.

Speaking ahead of the event, Payne says the team has lost 'three/four mph' so far on the longer straights and trying to compensate with more pace in the corners has forced a few errors.

However, whilst Payne and Rousseau are still awaiting key components to boost their performance, they will have an improvement in one field for the next three grand prix as they switch to a 'Mektronik' ignition system.

Elsewhere, the team recently marked an important milestone recently as their owner - three-time TT winner and two-time world sidecar champion, Rolf Steinhausen - celebrated his 80th birthday in Germany, with Payne among the guests who attended.