OLD Bar's Josh Hook and his FCC TSR Honda team-mates produced a stunning comeback to claim third spot in the World Endurance motorcycle championship.
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Suzuki Racing Team won on 176.5, with FCC TSR Honda on 143.5.
The revised championship finished last weekend with the 12 Hours of Estoril at Portugal. Only four rounds of the 2019/20 season were contested. The championship went into recess during the pandemic, resuming on August 29/30 with the Le Mans 24 hour race in France.
Hook told the Times before returning to Europe to finish commitments that his side's hopes of claiming the title were shot after a poor start to the campaign. He said the remaining races would be used to test the bike looking towards the 2020/21 season.
However, FCC TSR Honda stormed back into contention with a brilliant win at Le Mans.
At the Estporil 12-Hour YART Yamaha and FCC TSR Honda France battled it out until the last minute of an action-packed race. After a 12-hour thriller YART Yamaha won with a less-than-25-second lead over FCC TSR Honda France's Hook, Freddy Foray and Mike di Meglio.
"We had a good bike throughout the race and we had the pace to win,'' Hook said.
"It was definitely hard during the back-to-back stints towards the end. There are some things we have to improve on in the pit lane, because I think this cost us a good chance of winning. But we're happy with the result, we finished second, our lap times were good. When your bike is amazing, it doesn't matter where you are.
"I'm already looking forward to next year."