Taree’s Damian Cudlin has finished 9^th in the 2^nd round of the World Endurance Championship in Spain on the weekend, despite an enormous set back which threatened to end the race completely.

Alongside team mates Jerman and Scarnato, Cudlin looked in strong form for the race, and after qualifying fastest for the team the young Aussie anticipated a good result on the Spanish soil, however an unlucky incident in the first 8laps crushed all hopes of a podium finish.

After a solid start by Scarnato, the Yamaha Austria Racing Team sat in 4^th position, right in touch with the leaders, when the Frenchman was suddenly taken down from behind by Vankeymeulen on Cudlin’s former team’s Phase One Yamaha.

After breaking numerous bones in his foot, Scarnato bravely returned the bike to the pits where the YART crew repaired the substantial damage to the Yamaha R1.

Amazingly just 8 and a half laps later Cudlin returned to the track aboard the repaired machine and began his charge from last place up the leader board.

Unable to continue in the remainder of the race, Scarnato watched as Jerman and Cudlin rode back to back fighting through the field to finish in an astonishing 9^th place.

Although happy with the valuable 7 world championship points, the prize came with little satisfaction for the YART squad who looked on track for a certain podium finish.

“To sum it up, I guess we just had one of those days.” said Cudlin reflecting on the result.

“These things can happen in racing, so you just have to take the good with the bad. The main thing is Seb (Scarnato) is going to be ok, and Igor and I rode really well to come back from where we were.”

“The bike worked well here, the Pirelli’s were up to the job, and I personally rode a lot better than I did in Le Mans, so I’m happy about that. We should have been on the box here, and I can feel we are getting stronger all the time, so I know the results will show that soon. We just need a bit of luck to swing our way!”

Team Boss Mandy Kainz was left wondering what he’d done wrong to deserve this rotten luck so early in the season, but came away satisfied with the performance of his YART crew after the accident, and the stunning fight back of Cudlin and Jerman.

“It just wasn’t our weekend this time, and when something like this takes you out of the race for a podium place it’s very disappointing” said Kainz.

“But my boys did a great job fighting back to 9^th, and our pit crew were faultless. Overall we performed very well, we just didn’t get the trophies to prove it, but if we continue to build from this I’m sure we’ll get our chance for more silverware very soon.”

The next round of the World Endurance Championship will be held in Japan, at the infamous Suzuka 8hour race, in July.