Steinhausen and Cluze take pole position

Overcast, but dry and warm greeted 22 sidecar teams for the qualifying sessions in Oscherleben. After free practice a few of the top teams had to make adjustments to front and back suspension. As qualifying one got under way, it was clear that Jorg Steinhausen and Gregory Cluze, Steinhausen Racing, LCR, BMW wanted to get a clear track and get a fast time, and they did, they set the fastest time of 1:31.004, however as the session came to an end they found that they had lost water from the engine, so it was back to their garage to investigate, and with little time before the second qualifying session they were going to work hard, as too were Kurt Hock and Enrico Becker, Hock Racing, LCR, Suzuki, as they had some major mechanical problems, and I think they have to change an engine, but they managed to set the eighth fastest time of 1:33.808.  Just in front of them are the Heggarty/Lawson Team of Sean Heggarty and Calum Lawson on their LCR Suzuki, they set a time of 1:33.764 and hope to improve in the second qualifying session, Sean said "it is good to be back racing at this level and we don't have any problems with the bike, we are looking forward to the next session"Second to Steinhausen and Cluze is the Birchall Brothers Ben and Tom on their Mitchells of Mansfield, LCR, Yamaha  with a time of 1:31.104 they had no problems and hope to improve on their time, third fastest  is Pekka Paivarinta and Adolf Hanni, Team Suzuki Finland, LCR, Suzuki with a time of 1:31.390.  Marcus Schlosser and Thomas Hofer set a time of 1:31.598 on their Team Schlosser, LCR, Suzuki, with Tim Reeves and Ashley Hawes fifth with a time of 1:31.675 on their "The Relocator" LCR, Suzuki.Qualifying 2 got under way with the same conditions as the first, dry and warm, this would determine the grid positions for tomorrow and Sunday's races.The top five teams did not improve on their times from the first qualifying session so this left Jorg Steinhausen and Gregory Cluze starting from pole position  but they still have a water problem with their machine so they only managed six laps in this session, and they will be working into the night to rectify this problem.  Only 00:00.100 separate them and second place on the grid the Birchall Brothers, Ben and Tom who had a steady qualifying session with no problems with their machine and look forward to tomorrow's race.  Sitting third is Pekka Paivarinta and Adolf Hanni they too did not have any problems.  Markus Schlosser and Thomas Hofer are pleased with their fourth place on the grid just in front of Tim Reeves and Ashley Hawes, they had a warning light come up on their dash board but could not find any problems with their machine.Sitting eleventh on the grid is Bennie Streuer and new passenger Freek Dirksen on their Team Streuer, LCR, Suzuki, a problem for them as the passenger fell out of the sidecar, but was back in the paddock with no problems and he will be okay for the races.This weekend sees the first all female  sidecar team competing in the World Championship level, Sophia Kirchofer and Anna Burkard are enjoying the experience on their Ladies Team Suisse, LCR Suzuki, and after the first qualifying session they made some adjustments to their machine and will start the races with a qualifying time of 1:40.292  

Source: http://www.fim-live.com/en/media/news/news-detail/article/1344682245-steinhausen-and-cluze-take-pole-position/

Alessanro Brannetti Reiner Bratenstein Hans Braumandl Custom motorcycles