For the second time this season, the brothers made the long journey to the 2.281 miles circuit at Sachsenring, Germany, for round four of the World Sidecar Championship, which was run alongside the German MotoGP.

Friday’s practise was held in warm conditions on a patchy damp track, and Ben said: “We held pole for most of the time and were quickest in two of the four sectors, but we were pipped to second place in the final part of the session.”

The qualifying session on Saturday went well for the brothers and they finished up on the front row of the grid, for a third place start, alongside the current world champions.

Ben added: “Tom and I were happy with qualifying.

Fraction

“There were some pretty close times and we were only a fraction of a second behind the leaders.”

Sunday’s 20-lap race took place after the MotoGP events, in very wet conditions and Ben said afterwards: “Despite the soaking wet slippery track, we got a reasonable start and we remained in third place from the lights to the chequered flag.

“As the track surface was drying, our tyres started to burn up, so I drove a safe race in order to conserve the tyres and finish the race safely!

“Tom and I collected another 16 valuable points for the team, so we retain our fourth place in the World Championship and are just seven points behind Delannoy and Cluze.”

The brothers’ next challenge is on 17th August at Rijeka, Croatia, when they hope to gain more points and further consolidate their position in the Championship.