Australian Damian Cudlin spent more of his time in the grandstands than aboard the Team Kawasaki France machine at the 71^st Bol’Dor in France on the weekend.

Cudlin who was drafted in to ride the second factory 111 Kawasaki was promoted to the bench after Warm Up allowing Former World Endurance Champ and Frenchman Jehan D’Orgiex to take his place in the race.

After struggling to get comfortable with the set up of the machine, the young Aussie battled on with the Kawasaki eventually managing 1.43second lap times in race trim. Without being given a qualifier to test, Cudlin seemed confident with his predicted race pace, however a shock move from TKF Manager Christian Bourgeois saw Cudlin sidelined for the race and replaced with D’Orgiex.

“I don’t really know what to say at the moment, other than I’m disappointed with the decision that’s been made by the management.” Cudlin said after the race. “I was told that 43’s and 44’s was going to be too slow in the race, and that D’Orgiex was a safer bet. Listen I’m not a team boss so I don’t know what pressures they are under from other places, but I do know he was wrong about that. The fastest lap of the race was a 1.42.7 and the bloke they replaced me with didn’t get anywhere near my times plus he crashed, so I think they shot themselves in the foot to be honest.”

Both Kawasaki’s eventually retired in the race with engine problems.

“It’s a disappointing way to have spent the weekend as it looked so promising in the beginning, but that’s racing I suppose.” Summed up Cudlin. “It’s a shame it didn’t work out with me and the TKF squad this weekend, but I’m still thankful to have been given the opportunity by Bourgeois in the first place. It could have turned out very differently, and I wish them all the best for the rest of the season. Now I’m just looking forward to climbing back aboard the YART R1 in Qatar and hopefully ending the season on a high.”

Cudlin’s regular Yamaha Austria Racing Team also suffered a blow in the race retiring from 3^rd place at the 5hour mark with an engine problem. The race is now on for the YART squad to solve the problems before the final round of the World Endurance Championship in Qatar.

The final round of the series will take place on November 10^th.