Sidecar world champions set for Isle of Man TT debut
2022 and 2023 World and British Sidecar Champions, Todd Ellis and Emmanuelle Clement, are set to make a highly-anticipated debut at the Isle of Man TT Races next year.
Currently the dominant force on three wheels, the Anglo-French pairing, who have taken 15 Grand Prix victories and 38 podiums in the last three seasons, will contest the two 3Wheeling.Media Sidecar Races.
Ellis first came to prominence in the 2018 season when the now 29-year old finished second in the British Sidecar Championship, and a year later he took the title for the first time with 11 wins and 18 podiums from the 20 races.
A shortened 2020 British Championship season saw Ellis settle for second before joining forces with leading French female passenger Clement for the first time in 2021, with the pairing going on to have a superb debut season together.
Ellis joined the World Championship for the first time and took a brilliant second place with a single victory backed up by 11 further podiums. Third place was the outcome in that year’s British Championship with four wins and 6 podiums.
The partnership went from strength to strength in 2022, with 9 wins and 15 podiums seeing them crowned World Champions for the first time. 12 wins and 15 podiums in the British Championship ensured they also wrapped up that title to complete an unprecedented double.
Their current dominance of the three-wheel scene was then seen further as they successfully defended both titles in 2023 – 5 wins and 11 podiums in the World Championship seeing them get the better of TT stars, Ben and Tom Birchall. Meanwhile, winning all 12 of the British Championship races they contested enabled Ellis to take his third British title and Clement her second.
The addition of the double British and World Champions to the TT entry list adds strength and depth to a grid that continues to lap the Island at record pace, but it’s a challenge the newcomer pairing doesn’t take lightly.
Todd Ellis: “[The TT] has been on my mind for a number of years. My step-dad (Sidecar Driver, Gary Bryan) has competed at the TT for a long time so I’ve been visiting it for over 20 years now, but being there in 2023 was the first time where I started to properly think about doing it myself.”
“There’s a lot of learning to be done, particularly the gears and the bumps and the number of blind corners, but this isn’t a bucket list thing for me. It’s a long-term plan for the next 10 or 15 years, so who knows where we’ll end up!”
Emmanuelle Clement: “I first came across in 2022 to support Gary [Bryan] and then came back in 2023 to help the team out for the full two weeks. It was then that we did some laps with Dean and Conrad Harrison and the idea of competing became more of a reality.”
“It’s a huge challenge but I’m very close to Melanie Farnier (TT Sidecar passenger since 2015 and fastest female passenger) and we have a fantastic group of people around us which I think will really help our learning and progress.”
