Sylvain Guintoli

Sylvain Guintoli (born 24 June 1982 in Montélimar) is a French professional motorcycle racer. In 2017, he will compete in the British Superbike Championship aboard a Suzuki GSX-R1000. He spent the early years of his career in 250cc Grand-Prix World Championship on private bikes. He was a 500cc 2 stroke test rider for Yamaha and made a single MotoGP start in 2002. Best MotoGP rookie in 2007 for Yamaha, he raced for Ducati MotoGP in 2008. After a serious leg injury in 2009, he recovered and became World Superbike Champion in 2014 for Aprilia.

Guintoli at the 2008 United States Grand Prix.

After having several years in the 250 cc class, he raced in the MotoGP class for the Tech 3 Yamaha team in 2007. He described the opportunity as a "dream come true", but suffered a setback early in testing when he crashed and broke his collarbone, eliminating him from testing for several weeks. He has scored solid lower-order points in 2007, but shone in damp conditions at Le Mans, briefly leading before falling, but rejoining to finish 10th. He finished 4th at the Motegi GP, making this his best MotoGP finish, and Dunlop's best finish on an 800cc bike. There were further regular lower-point finishes in 2007.

He was officially snapped up by Luis d'Antin, to ride the Ducati Desmocedici in 2008 for Pramac d'Antin, now renamed as Alice Team (replacing Alex Hofmann), on Saturday 15 September. Guintoli had an average 2008 finishing 13th in the championship, with his best finish being a 6th in the German Grand Prix. At the end of the season Alice Team did not renew Guintoli's contract and with no other seats free he was forced to leave MotoGP to find a ride.

Guintoli then took a step down to the British Superbike Championship for the 2009 season, riding for the Worx Crescent Suzuki team as their sole rider.

Guintoli started his debut season in the British Superbike Championship impressively with a 1st and 2nd at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit. However, during the buildup to race 5 of the championship at Donington Park, Guintoli was involved in a collision with Josh Brookes. The incident left Guintoli with a broken tibia and fibia in his right leg, with him expected to miss several rounds. Brookes initially claimed to have experienced a brake failure, and telemetry showed Brookes attempting to "pump" the brake, perhaps believing them to be faulty. However, telemetry showed that the brakes responded as expected for the speed Brookes was running at, which was racing rather than touring speed. Guintoli was interviewed by Eurosport at the Mallory Park round, meaning he was present to see a further controversial incident involving Brookes.

Guintoli finished the 2010 season in seventh place, despite not finishing on the podium in any of the season's races.

After finishing the British Superbike Championship season with three fifth places at Oulton Park, Guintoli was signed up for another season with the Worx Crescent Suzuki squad. But when Max Neukirchner suddenly left Suzuki to join Honda, Guintoli was drafted in as his replacement for the 2010 season. Guintoli then rode the final World Superbike Championship round of the 2009 season in Portimão finishing tenth in the second race. He was competitive at the opening round, but was disappointed with his own performance at round two in Portugal, where he took a best finish of ninth on a bike that team-mate Leon Haslam rode to a victory. He did not finish as high as fourth again until round nine, but had scored points in every race at this stage.

For 2011, Guintoli has signed with Liberty Cz Group-backed Liberty Ducati, based in Prague, Czech Republic. His teammate will be WSBK veteran and former Guandalini Ducati/Aprilia rider Jakub Smrz. In 2012, Guintoli achieved his and the team's first win at the third round of the season, in Assen. He will top the podium twice again over the course of the season, first at Silverstonne and then in the home-round at Magny Cours. As a result of the team withdrawal from the championship, he joined the Aprilia factory team in 2013 as a replacement for Max Biaggi, taking one win and finishing third overall in the Championship behind Tom Sykes and Eugene Laverty. He retained his seat for the 2014 Superbike World Championship season, and started the season on a high note by winning Race 2 in the opening round at Phillip Island. Four more wins will follow during the course of the season, culminating in his championship-winning double win at the closing round in Losail. Guintoli is the first French SBK champion since Raymond Roche in 1990. For the 2015 Superbike World Championship season, he joined Pata Honda World Superbike.

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British Superbike Championship

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Yr	Class	Team	BHI		OUL		DON		THR		SNE		KNO		MAL		BHGP			CAD		CRO		SIL		OUL			Pos.	Pts
			R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R3
2009	BSB	Suzuki	1	2	3	3	DNS	DNS												8	7	Ret	13	7	8	5	5	5	8th	147

Superbike World Championship

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• * Season still in progress.