TT Sidecar regulars suffer tough start to season
Isle of Man TT sidecar regulars Ben and Tom Birchall had a terrible start to the 2013 season when they were forced to pull out of the first round at the weekend.
The brothers, who will be back in Mountain course action at the 2013 Isle of Man TT fuelled by Monster Energy, had hoped for a strong start to the British F1 Sidecar Championship at Brands Hatch.
Instead, they had to withdraw from the opening round after suffering technical issues during practice and qualifying.
The Mitchells of Mansfield-supported pair lost track time on Friday as they failed to complete a full lap of the Indy circuit and they worked long into the evening to try to rectify the problem. They managed to get the outfit out for Saturday’s qualifying, but after setting the second fastest lap, which would have given then a front row start to the first race later that day, they were forced to pull in with further problems.
Ben said:
“The new bike is still in the early stages of development. Despite the extensive pre-season test programme we unfortunately encountered some technical issues at Brands, which can be expected as the new outfit is still in its infancy.”
“But even the brief few laps we did put in on Saturday we were quicker than ever before so we are quite excited about what is yet to come once we sort out these technical issues.”
He added:
“We knew we would not be out in the second race and so withdrew to gain extra time to work on the outfit as we have an uphill battle to be prepared for the first round of the world championship at Aragon in Spain at the weekend.”
“It’s a race against time and touch-and-go whether we make it, although even with only a few days before we have to leave for Spain we are optimistic we will be on the grid.”