Yahoo Sports World champion Payne aims to boost sidecar profile
Sidecar racer Harry Payne is contemplating an assault on the British Championship in 2025 following a thrilling world title triumph in Portugal.
Payne and partner Kevin Rousseau won both races in the final round at Estoril, the second by just 0.053 seconds, to overturn a seven-point deficit and pip Marcus Schlosser and Luca Schmidt.
Domestic success usually precedes international titles, but Payne, originally from Wivenhoe in Essex, hopes to double up next year to further boost his profile.
"The World Championship is only a six-round series and the British is also six rounds, so 12 would be perfect for the whole year - just add the British to what we're doing," he told BBC Essex.
"We've got a great group of personal sponsors and small team sponsors but we're missing the title sponsor, which is the big one. I'm hoping this (title) will help us get that little bit of extra exposure."
Payne first entered the FIM World Championship in 2021 and finished fifth overall in the last two seasons.
He was determined to "leave everything on the track" in the final round to try to overhaul his Swiss rivals, although he and Rousseau did not get the conditions they believed would be in their favour.
"Being November, normally it's monsoon season but it was beautiful weather, 20-25 degrees, absolutely perfect," the Team #45 racer said.
"That put us on the back foot, but we'd worked really well in the weeks leading up to the race and we'd come with a few upgrades on the bike to try and minimise drag and maximise the top speed of the machine, because that's where we've been really struggling against the Swiss team, and it seemed to pay off."
After winning the first race, the second lasted 17 laps which "felt like 117", he said.
"He came past twice, but just out-braked himself twice and we managed to nip straight back through. My brakes were fading away, I didn't have the edge grip (on the tyres) I needed so I was having to alter my lines to try to get the best out of the bike and it was so hard.
"I was completely finished after the race. I'd never done two races in a day at this level."
'We were the underdogs'
Having been the chasing pair ahead of the first race, Payne and Rousseau had found themselves the team to beat for the second, increasing the pressure to perform.
"We were prepared for the second (before the start of racing) and were happy whatever happened. We were the underdogs," said Payne.
"After the first race, we were all just walking around the pitbox, we didn't know what to do, I was just a bit of a mess really. What should I do? What's the plan? How are we going to tackle this? Mind-boggling stuff.
"But we managed to keep our cool and it came good."
Having driven back from Portugal, the pair, who first wore their customary pink wigs "as a bet for the Dutch Grand Prix", plan to celebrate with friends and family at the weekend, with testing for next season not due to begin until January.
"I'm just going to be working on a few things to make it go faster in a straight line. We can't go any faster on the corners. Just better aerodynamics because we're struggling with top speed compared to the Swiss guys," Payne added.
"That's what we're going to work on and try and bring this same sort of energy to next year, keep up the good vibes and try and defend the number one."
