Champions aim to bring '˜A-game' to Snetterton

Ricky Stevens and Ryan Charlwood driving their damaged sidecar at Knockhill. Picture: Tim Keeton/Impact Images

The double British F1 champions head to Snetterton for round five this weekend.

After slipping to third in the overall standings, the pair are looking forward to bouncing back at the Norfolk circuit.

Passenger Charlwood said: ‘We really struggled with getting the configurations of our outfit right at Knockhill.

‘And in the last of the three races we lost all grip which we discovered was an issue with our suspension.

‘That, on top of our DNF in the first race really set us back.

‘We are fighting against very skilled and very competitive teams.

‘And at this stage in the championship, we can’t afford any more silly mistakes.

‘We have to bring our A-game to Snetterton.’

In the first race at Knockhill, the pair got tangled up with other teams and the wheel arch on their fairing came off, leading to an early retirement.

While the damage looked quite dramatic, Portsmouth-based driver Stevens confirmed it was mostly superficial.

And he is confident the outfit is back to running order.

Their main concern has been the suspension problems that slowed them down in the third race.

Stevens said: ‘There was a fair bit of damage to the outfit after the last round but it wasn’t as bad as we first thought.

‘The team has been working around the clock to get the sidecar back up to scratch.

‘And we have made tweaks to our suspension which we hope will resolve the grip issue we experienced at Knockhill.

‘We’re nearly halfway through the season, so we need to perform better if we want to stay in the championship.

‘We’ve been training four to five times a week to ensure our fitness levels are at their best.

‘Snetterton is not necessarily my favourite track but I’m quite excited to go there and give it my all.’