Source: Supplied.

Top-finishing Australian in last weekend’s gruelling Bol d’Or 24 Hours, Damian Cudlin, is content with a top five result to open his 2016/2017 FIM Endurance World Championship campaign.

The French Paul Ricard circuit was the host of the opening round and Cudlin’s F.C.C. TSR Honda squad circulated to fifth position, gaining a host of valuable championship points toward the title-chase in the process.

“I’m really happy with the result,” Cudlin commented. “I think that fifth place is a really good start to the season, because we win a lot of points from the fifth position. Obviously we hoped for a podium, which was our target, but there were some really great teams racing this weekend.

“We didn’t quite have the speed to match them, but I want to say a big thanks to my teammates – they did a fantastic job. Shinichi Ito is a legend, at 50 years old he still is so fast and it’s quite incredible, so it was great to work with him. Also Kazuma [Watanabe] was like a machine, so fast in the night, the day and he did a lot of relays.

“They did a great job, no mistakes, and my team did a fantastic job also. I’m happy with everything and it’s a good start to the year, something to build on from here, and the season is long. It’s a good start.”

While Cudlin’s Japanese TSR Honda squad was able to cross the line at the end of 24 hours in fifth position, countryman Broc Parkes and brother Alex Cudlin saw their opening rounds end prematurely with mechanical problems.