REEVES RETURNS WITH FARNIER FOR 2026 SIDECAR CAMPAIGN
Former race winner Tim Reeves will make a welcome return to the Isle of Man TT Races in 2026, contesting both Sidecar TT races with French passenger Melanie Farnier on the Carl Cox Motorsport LCR Honda. Forced to miss last year’s event, the multiple World and British champion is set to line up in the two three-lap Sidecar TT races. Reeves, one of the most decorated competitors in modern sidecar racing, will be partnered by leading French female passenger Melanie Farnier, who returns to the Mountain Course for the first time since 2022.
Tim Reeves returns with Melanie Farnier on the Carl Cox Motorsport LCR Honda.
Reeves made an immediate impact on his TT debut in 2008, becoming the first sidecar newcomer to stand on the podium since Jock Taylor in 1978. He added a second podium in 2010 with third place in the opening race, before stepping up to second in 2012 with Dan Sayle in the chair.
Victory followed in 2013, again with Sayle, in what remains Reeves’ sole TT win despite consistently running at the sharp end of the field. Remarkably, he has never finished outside the top six. Further third-place finishes came in 2014 and 2016, and in 2018 he secured a brace of podiums with Mark Wilkes, setting his fastest-ever lap of the 37.73-mile Mountain Course at 117.729mph. That places him fifth fastest of all time and one of only five drivers to have lapped at more than 117mph.
His most recent TT appearances, again with Wilkes, yielded fourth and sixth place finishes in 2023 and 2024, respectively, with multiple 115 mph+ laps recorded. With a renewed attack on the event in 2026, a return to the podium is firmly in his sights.
Farnier, meanwhile, made her TT debut in 2015 with Lionel Mansuy and has since established herself as one of the leading female sidecar passengers to have competed on the Mountain Course. After finishing 11th with Estelle Leblond in 2017, the pairing improved to ninth in 2018, lapping at 110.732mph.
In 2022, alongside Paul Leglise, she recorded a 111.053mph lap on the way to seventh place in race two, at the time the fastest lap ever by a female sidecar passenger. That benchmark was surpassed two years later by Emmanuelle Clement, but Farnier’s pedigree around the Mountain Course is firmly established.
“It’s great to be coming back to the TT” - Tim Reeves
Speaking about the campaign, Reeves said: “It’s great to be coming back to the TT in 2026. Missing last year was tough, but the hunger is still there. The Carl Cox Motorsport LCR Honda is a proven package and I’m really looking forward to working with Melanie. She’s shown how quick and committed she is around the Mountain Course, and we’re aiming to build confidence through practice week and go into race week feeling competitive.”
Carl Cox added: “The TT remains my favourite event of the year and we block out our schedules to see the guys and girls do their thing on two and three wheels around the Isle of Man. We’ve been working with Tim for many years and been on the podium, so this isn’t our first rodeo together! We’re so excited to be fully behind his campaign for this year with Mel in the ‘chair’.”
With eight podiums, a race win and one of the fastest laps in Sidecar TT history to his name, he remains a genuine contender on return to the world’s most demanding road race.
