Source: Supplied.

It’s one thing completing the Le Mans 24 Hours. It’s an entirely different challenge to do it with just two riders. And that’s exactly what Yamaha Austria Racing Team duo Broc Parks and Max Neukirchner achieved last weekend.

Starting from third on the grid, Neukirchner started the race with a double stint before handing the YZF-R1 over to experienced Australian export Parkes. Around the two hour mark they were running sixth.

But then drama unfolded. Already nursing a hand injury from a practice shunt, YART’s third rider Ivan Silva was caught out in cool conditions after just one lap, breaking his shoulder and putting him out of the race altogether.

The team was able to repair the R1 when it returned to the pits 25 minutes later, meaning Parkes and Neukirchner faced the daunting challenge of completing the final 21 hours on their own in alternating stints. They did so, climbing to 11th and a bag of important championship points.

“That was easily the hardest race I’ve ever done in my whole life,” Parkes reflected. “At times I didn’t think it was possible. After we had a meeting with Mandy, I was questioning it because the weather was so bad and cold and there were moments when I was riding towards the end when I wasn’t sure and I didn’t think that even I could keep continuing.

“It’s good for the team, I think we went from nothing to getting some good points for the championship. I’ve been with the team now for three or four years, I gave everything for them and I’m happy that it’s over.”

After circulating to a mammoth 785 laps of the Le Mans circuit in France, Yamaha Austria Racing Team was credited 11th overall and seventh in the EWC class ranking.