Despite having a podium finish at the Le Mans 24 Hour race well within his grasp, Taree´s Damian Cudlin has finished 12th in the World Championship opener, after suffering serious set backs in the race on the weekend. 

Teamed with British riders James Haydon and James McBride, the young Aussie, who announced his return to Phase One Yamaha only weeks before the event, made a stunning start in France, wrestling his R1 to 5th in the opening hours tricky conditions.  

By the 4th hour the Team had stormed to 3rd place behind the two Factory Suzuki´s and fought off it´s attackers well into the night for the next 8 hours. The constant bursts of rain causing wet then drying conditions played into the hands of the Phase One Team and thoughts of a podium finish in arguably the toughest road race in the world soon filled the minds of riders and team members a like. But they were to be short lived when an engine noise forced the team to inspect the damage with a costly pit Stop, losing 5laps in the process.

Still in the hunt, the team pressed on back to 5th before Haydon fell heavily after being colided by another rider. The crash would end all hopes of a rostrum finish as the team were forced to watch 20 painful minutes pass in the substantial repair. 

„We had all put in such a big effort until that point and we really still had the chance to be on the box at Le Mans“ Cudlin explained. „When I came back from the shower ready for my rotor and saw the bike I was just gutted. 13 hours of racing had just gone down the drain. It´s like getting to the halfway point of a marathon before someone tells you that you´ve been running the wrong way. It´s pretty hard to take.“ 

Unhurt in his fall, Haydon alongside Cudlin continued to fight back through the night, until the rain fell heavier providing McBride with his favourite conditions to shine. Lapping faster than anyone on the circuit for up to an hour, McBride made huge time in his stint, but would eventually also suffer a minor fall causing another lengthy delay. 

Not giving up, Cudlin pressed on back to back with Haydon as the pair drove the team back in the points with a 12th place finish at the flag. 

„It´s easy to see it´s not the result we wanted here this weekend but it really showed the fighting spirit of the Phase One Yamaha Team.“ Cudlin said. „Just finishing one of these races is an achievement for any team and to know that we almost got on the podium this time round makes me proud of these guys. We never gave up, even right to the very end and considering the dramas we had 12th was a bloody good result.“ 

Cudlin will team with Haydon again at the next round of the World Endurance Championship at Albacete in Spain next month.