Locally-based driver Harry Payne has gained another wildcard entry for the final round of the FIM Sidecar World Championship at Estoril this weekend.

Sponsored by KelProperties, he and passenger Mark Wilkes will be riding for the Steinhausen Racing team in the final two races of the 2021 series.

The recently-crowned British F2 Cup champions will start the final two races of the campaign on a 2021 Adolf-RS Yamaha outfit.

’We can’t thank the team enough for this opportunity,’ said Harry, before setting off for Portugul. ’The bike is immaculate, and I really want to do them proud. We have been putting the plans in place to make sure we can be competitive there.’

An agreement was made earlier this month for Payne and Wilkes to ride for the team, headed by two-time world champion Rolf Steinhausen - a very highly-respected former sidecar racer.

After talks with the three-time TT winner, and a 10-lap shake down test at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben circuit in Germany, Rolf and his son Maik Steinhausen set to work preparing the outfit for the two Englishmen.

The last driver to win a sidecar Grand Prix in the island in 1976, Steinhausen Sr commented: ’I was happy with how these two rode the bike, I look forward very much to what this brings.’