Ben and Tom Birchall completed the fastest Sidecar TT in history to take victory in the first of two Sure Sidecar races in TT 2015. The sibling pairing set a new race record time of 58:39.776 to see off John Holden and Dan Sayle with Conrad Harrison and Mike Aylott completing the podium.
Holden and Sayle began the race as the quickest pairing over qualifying week but Dave Molyneux and Ben Binns were only half a second shy, setting the stage for a thrilling race. However, the Suzuki pair were ruled out of contention on the opening lap after being forced to stop at Brandish to make adjustments. Their retirement was confirmed soon afterwards. They weren’t the only pre-race favourites to hit problems on the opening lap Tim Reeves and Patrick Farrance retiring at the top of Barregarrow.
The Birchalls had built up a five second lead over Holden and Sayle, lapping at 115.285mph, and despite a response from the Silicone Engineering/Barnes Racing team, Ben and Tom increased their lead second time around with a 116.060mph run, the second quickest of all time.
From that point onwards, the Nottinghamshire brothers were never threatened and eventually took the chequered flag with a 25 second advantage over Holden and Sayle. Harrison and Aylott were the only other pair to complete the race in under an hour, securing the third spot on the podium, while Ian and Carl Bell brought their LCR home in fourth.
Alan Founds and Tom Peters edged out Gary Bryan and Jamie Winn for fifth, the two teams separated by just seven thousandths of a second, while Estelle Leblond became the fastest female driver in TT history after lapping the mountain course in 107.297mph with her partner Sebastian Lavorel.
