Australia’s Damian Cudlin has landed a dream ride with the QMMF Racing Team to contest the 2012 Moto2 World Championship.

The team, run by Qatar’s Motorcycle Federation, will feature 28-year-old Cudlin, alongside female racer Elena Rossell.

Cudlin started riding dirt bikes at a very young age and won three Australian Junior Dirt Track titles in a row before moving his attention to road racing. At age 17, he got his first ‘big bike’ ride in the 1000cc Formula Xtreme class and later on scored promising results in the Endurance World Championship, with two overall third places in 2006 and 2007.

But he had to wait until 2010 before getting his first chance of grand prix racing as a replacement rider in the Moto2 and later on in the MotoGP category last year.

“To finally arrive on this level and ride the first grand prix races of my life was an incredible experience,” Cudlin said. “My entire career long, I tried to catch a permanent GP ride, but it was very difficult to find the right support.

“Now, all stars lined up the right way and I’m finally getting my chance in the GP championship. The QMMF team has a great structure and lots of potential. I will try to bring in my experience as a development rider, a job that I’ve done for several teams and manufacturers during the last years.

“This will hopefully help to give the team the right direction with the set-up and further development of the bike and I am sure we will work very well together.

“I know lots of guys in the team because my young brother Alex raced with them both in the Endurance and in the Qatar championships. We will have a great time together!”

The QMMF team will continue its successful partnership with Moriwaki racing, running the latest version of the highly competitive Moriwaki MD 600.

“I haven’t tested this bike yet, but I am confident that we’ll have a very good package,” Cudlin added. “In 2010, Moriwaki won the Moto2 world championship with Toni Elias and since then the bike has further improved.

“The potential is there and the fact that I have experience with a variety of other four-stroke machines will help to understand the strong and weak points of the bike. I am sure we will be able to fight for some good results!”

Cudlin finished seventh on debut for Pons at the Grand Prix of Germany in his lone Moto2 appearance in 2010.