WorldSBK: Guinters Gets His Moto Mojo Back
Gordon Ritchie | February 26, 2016
He mightn’t look it, but Sylvain was more than happy with his opening day’s pace.
Winning the 2014 WorldSBK Championship on an Aprilia RSV4 was the highlight of Sylvain Guintoli’s career, losing any chance of a repeat performance after an off-season injury and struggle on the venerable Honda last year brought him back to earth.
The combination of his own talent, proven pace at Phillip Island and the all-new Yamaha YZF-R1 took him back to the top after the only two regular qualifying performances – Friday’s – in the new-look WorldSBK weekend.
Guintoli was nonetheless surprised to be top in with so many other top challengers. “It was a surprise!” he confessed. “We know we have a good base, I said it from the first test. But being so competitive right away…no. But for now it is just a one lap pace. We may struggle on Saturday but I do not know. We will see. We might not struggle.”
It is plain to see that the M1-insired R1 is a more than solid base to go racing from. “The bike is very driveable,” Guintoli said. “We improved it over the winter but also in practice, so it feels like… for me it is very different from what I am used to. But yes, the bike here is fantastic to ride. It turns so well on the throttle. It seems like we have a very good potential.”
As for the possibilities on a race weekend with a Saturday as well as a Sunday, Guintoli harked back to the previous experience of such a schedule, in a weird weekend all-round. “It will be interesting. We did it once in Laguna Seca and it was quite good, I liked it, but I did not like the red flags!”
Photography by Gold & Goose
