Plater competed in the final round of the World Endurance championship at the Losail circuit, where despite an early crash the Phase One Yamaha team completed the eight hour race in ninth overall but fifth in the Superbike class.
The weekend started out well with Plater topping the qualifying times for the Phase One team, just marginally faster than his two team-mates, Glen Richards and Warwick Nowland. This secured the team second place on the grid alongside the newly crowned world champion SERT team who clinched the title at the previous round.
As the race got underway it was Plater who took the first hour on the bike to immediately settle into third place behind Vincent Philippe on the SERT bike and David Morillon on the Bolliger Kawasaki.
He soon reeled in Morillon and started chasing Philippe following him for a few laps before forging ahead on the final corner to take the race lead, which he held for the next six laps.
With just half a lap remaining to the first handover the SERT bike crashed into him causing the pair to fall heavily. Despite the pain from an injured arm and leg plus a head injury, Plater managed to get the Yamaha R1 going and ride it back to the pits where the team worked frantically for half an hour to get it repaired and back on the track.
Plater took no further part in the race although remained on standby in case he needed to replace either of his team-mates. However, the pair carried on sharing the time between them for the rest of the eight hours and fought back bravely from dead last to finish in ninth position, fifth in class.
It was a shame I was knocked off in the early stages of the race, said a visibly disappointed Plater. I had just posted the fastest lap of the race, faster than the pole setter and although later in the race it was bettered by Lagrive it was only by three tenths of a second.
