2024 FIM SIDECAR WORLD CHAMPIONS - Rider
HARRISON PAYNE
Born into a family that revolved around motorcycles, it was almost inevitable that Harrison Payne would follow his father into racing, although his route to the 2024 FIM Sidecar Rider World Championship was hardly direct.
The thirty-two-year-old started outriding Trial and moved into Sidecar Motocross before leaving the dirt in favour of asphalt–initially as a passenger–and in only his fourth season in the series, with Frenchman Kevin Rousseau as passenger, has earned the sport’s ultimate accolade.
Payne and Rousseau formed their winning partnership last year and after fighting their way to fifth they got their 2024 campaign under way in Rousseau’s home city of Le Mans in April with a victory followed by a DNF with an electrical issue while leading the second race.
For the entire season they were locked in a titanic battle with Swiss former champion Markus Schlosserand his German passenger Luca Schmidt that went all the way down to the wire at the sixth round in Portugal in November.
Travelling to Estoril seven points a drift of the lead, victory in the opening race reduced the deficit to two points before Payne wrapped up the title inthe final race of the championship.
PALMARES
World Title: 2024
2024 FIM SIDECAR WORLD CHAMPIONS - Passenger
Kevin Rousseau
After winning multiple national crowns in his home country of France, Kevin Rousseau’s talents as a passenger have never been in any doubt and he can now add a coveted FIM gold medal to his racing résumé after he won the 2024 FIM Sidecar Passenger World Championship title alongside Harrison Payne.
The thirty-two-year-old joined forces with the British rider at the start of last year and they quickly gelled as they forced their way to fifth in the rankings, but it was just a taste of things to come.
Victory in the opening points-paying race of 2024 on Rousseau’s home soil at Le Mans was followed by a mechanical DNF while leading in the closing stages of race two which forced the pair into a year-long game of catch-up as they chased the team of Swiss rider Markus Schlosser and his German passenger Luca Schmidt.
Through rounds in Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and again in Germany the pair never gave up and on the final day of the championship at Estoril in Portugal in November this relentless pursuit saw them finally rewarded when they overcamea seven-point deficit at the start of the day to clinch the title.
PALMARES
World Title: 2024