Mixed fortunes as Lauder sidecar-racer Steve Kershaw starts defence of British F2 title with no-show and podium top spot

The Borderer’s bike is much changed from the one he and passenger Rhys Gibbons won last year’s championship aboard, with engine, suspension and fairing updates carried out to comply with new Isle of Man Tourist Trophy regulations.

Their revised set-up was only finished the day before setting off for last Friday’s practice sessions in Kent so a few niggles were expected, but Kershaw, 38, and Merseysider Gibbons, 23, were up to speed in no time and secured pole position for race one during Saturday morning’s qualifying, finishing nine-thousandths of a second ahead of Lancashire’s George Holden and Jake Lowther, with North Yorkshire’s Matty Ramsden and Ben Stell a further three-tenths of a second back.

Niggles weren’t long in making an appearance, though, and a loss of oil pressure at the end of qualifying necessitated a strip of the engine to identify the problem. In the end, a split 50p O-ring turned out to be the culprit and, once replaced, the engine fired up without damage. Unfortunately, a tight timeframe meant Kershaw and Gibbons were unable to get their bike to the line on schedule so they had to sit out race one and watch on as their rivals battled it out, seeing Holden/Lowther fend off Ramsden/Stell for the full 12 laps to win by under half a second. Third were last year’s series runners-up, Newcastle’s Lee Crawford and Scottish sidekick Scott Hardie, competing from last on the grid.

Grid positions were dictated by the first race’s results so it was the Lauder team’s turn to start from the back on Sunday, but they didn’t hang around in making their way to the front, passing six crews on their first lap and picking the others off lap by lap.

Up front, Ramsden/Stell had worked out how to get the better of Holden/Lowther and led by the end of lap three, steadily increasing the distance separating them from their rivals.

By lap five, Kershaw’s Louis Christen Racing Honda was flying and they set about catching the leaders, recording the fastest times on laps five, seven, eight and nine and taking the lead on lap ten.

They kept hold of that lead to the end and by the time the 14-lap race wrapped up, they were nearly five seconds ahead of second-placed Ramsden/Stell and nine seconds in front of Saturday’s victors, third-placed Holden/Lowther.

Despite Saturday’s troubles, Kershaw and Gibbons were delighted with their weekend’s work, the former saying: “The outfit now handles fantastic and we’re a second a lap faster than we’ve ever been round here before.

“To get within 0.2 seconds of the lap record first time out is unbelievable and a real boost for the next races and the TT.”

“After the winter lay-off, you’re always a bit rusty but that felt effortless,” added Gibbons.

Next up for Kershaw is 2026’s Scottish championship opener at Knockhill in Fife on Saturday and Sunday, April 11 and 12, and he’s expected to give a debut to his Triumph-engined Formula 1 bike as preparation for bidding to reclaim the British F1 title after last winning it in 2020.

Round two of seven making up this year’s British F2 championship is at Cadwell Park in Linciolnshire later in April.