Aussie Damian Cudlin’s deal with PBM has been extended.

Paul Bird Motorsports has announced that Damian Cudlin has been released from his IDM Superbike Championship contract with RAC Racing BMW in order to contest the next three MotoGP World Championship rounds.

Cudlin was initially confirmed for Motorland Aragon and Phillip Island, however an extension of his deal will now see the 30-year-old Australian also race at Sepang and Motegi.

With this weekend’s Sepang event falling on the same weekend as the IDM finale at Lausitzring in Germany, RAC Racing BMW’s decision has handed Cudlin a further MotoGP lifeline as he aims to make progress aboard the PBM CRT entry.

“I’m really excited to be getting the chance to build something up with PBM over the next three races,” Cudlin commented. “It’s always tough coming into a GP weekend and learning everything for the first time, as I did in Aragon. Now I’ll have the chance to improve each time out.

“I’ve got mixed emotions though, as racing at Sepang means missing the final round of the IDM Superbike Championship with my RAC BMW team, a series I’m currently second in. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but with the blessing of my team boss Geert Prins, I decided that I needed to give this GP opportunity a shot.

“I want to thank the team and its sponsors for being so understanding and I hope I can make them proud of my performances in MotoGP!”

The consistency of having Cudlin with the team for successive races is also a blessing for the PBM team developing its own chassis combination.

“PBM would like to thank the RAC Racing BMW Team for allowing Damian to race for us in the Malaysian GP and we now look forward to working with him for the three long haul races and continue the progress we were making during the sessions at Aragon,” said PBM technical director Phil Borley.

British rider Michael Laverty, who has campaigned the CRT-specification PBM machine all season, will continue aboard the Aprilia ART machine for the remainder of the season.