Magny-Cours, France – 14 April 2012: BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent were forced to retire from the Bol d’Or at Magny-Cours, after a crash in the second hour of the race left the #99 BMW S1000RR too damaged to continue. Damian Cudlin started the race in the wet, but a dry line started to appear around the track almost immediately, making the conditions tricky for all. Cudlin managed to maintain fourth position to the first pit stop, after which he returned to the track to complete a double stint on the bike. Unfortunately, just two laps before he was due to handover to Sébastien Gimbert, Cudlin crashed heavily at the end of the straight and was forced to push back to the pits. Gimbert took to the track once the crash damage had been repaired, but was forced to return to the pit box after experiencing problems on his first lap. Following further inspection of the bike by the team’s technical staff, it was decided to withdraw from the race on safety grounds. Cudlin suffered a suspected mild concussion in the crash, but was otherwise uninjured. Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal “It was a big crash and the bike was very badly damaged when it returned to the pit box. The team repaired the obvious damage quickly to get Sébastien back into the race, but he had a problem on his very first lap and returned immediately to the pit box. On further inspection it was obvious that the crash damage was more extensive than first thought, especially around the bottom of the engine. Without opening the engine it was impossible to assess the damage properly, leaving us with no option but to withdraw from the race. Obviously, it is not the start to the season we wanted but the safety of our riders, and our rivals, must come first. After internal discussion involving all of our technical partners, we decided to stop rather than chance putting others at risk.” For more information and additional high resolution images please visit the BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent website at www.thevent.eu.