Sylvain Guintoli

Sylvain Guintoli
Guintoli in 2014
Nationality	French
Born	(1982-06-24) 24 June 1982 Montélimar, France
Current team	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR
Bike number	50
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2002, 2007–2008, 2011, 2017-2018 Manufacturers Yamaha, Ducati, Suzuki Championships 0 2018 championship position NC (0 pt) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 44 0 0 0 0 118 250cc World Championship Active years 2000–2001, 2003–2006 Manufacturers Honda, Aprilia Championships 0 2006 championship position 9th (96 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 80 0 1 0 0 367 Superbike World Championship Active years 2009-2016 Manufacturers Suzuki, Ducati, Aprilia, Honda, Yamaha Championships 1 (2014) 2016 championship position 11th (141 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 170 9 42 4 12 1803.5

Sylvain Guintoli (born 24 June 1982 in Montélimar) is a French professional motorcycle racer. In 2017, he competed 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.

Grand Prix motorcycle

250cc and MotoGP

2000 season

Guintoli made his grand prix debut in the 250cc class for the Équipe du France, partnering Julian da Costa for the French GP, with an Honda. He qualified 24th out of 33 drivers, two second and a half faster than da Costa, 32nd. He retired during the first few laps.

2001 season

Guintoli rejoined the French team Équipe du France - Scrab GP with fellow Frenchman Randy de Puniet for the 2001 season, this time full-time. They never finished pretty close in the races, but finished 13th and 14th in the championship standings, with de Puniet 13th and Guintoli 14th with 44 points, six points less than his teammate. His best result was a 4th place at the Dutch grand prix. He raced an Honda.

2002 season

For the 2002 season, Guintoli became the test driver for the Yamaha team, so he did not raced full-time that year. He raced his first MotoGP race at the Czech race for the French Yamaha Tech 3 team, having qualified 21st out of 22 (though fellow Yamaha privateer Pere Riba qualified 22nd and did not started due to a crash) and finished 17th and last. This was his last race of the year, as he returned to his test drive position until the end of the year.

2003 season

For the 2003 season, Guintoli returned to the 250cc class, racing for the Campetello Racing, driving an Aprilia, partnering Italian Franco Battaini. He showed some good pace, fighting consistely for midpoints scorying positions, but mainly behind his teammate Battaini who had more experience and he was driving Aprilias for seasons.

He finished his first race of the year, at Suzuka in 9th place, with Battaini 5th. He then finished at Phakisa in 10th place, long way behind to Battaini's podium in third place. He retired at Jerez and was already 21 points less than Battaini.

He started to get more competitive with a 6th and a 5th place at Mugello and Le Mans respectively. He even scored his first podium at Assen, finishing third in wet conditions, not far behind than race-winner Anthony West and Franco Battaini, both in Aprilias. He then scored some other points, finishing in fourth place twice, at the Rio GP and at Valencia.

He finished the year in 10th place with 104 points, 40 points less than teammate Battaini.

2004 season

For 2004, Guintoli remained also to Campetello Racing, driving again an Aprilia. He was partnered again by Franco Battaini and this time also by Joan Olivé. This year the team struggled and none of them scored podiums.

Guintoli finished the year in 14th place with 42 points, his best result being a 7th place at Barcelona. Battaini finished in front of the Frenchman in 10th place with 93 points and Olivé behind in 19th place with 27 points.

2005 season

For the 2005 season, Guintoli returned to the Équipe du France GP Scrab, partnered first by Grégory Leblanc and then by Mathieu Ginos, both French. He once again drove an Aprilia.

Nothing changed from last year, with Guintoli again finishing in midpoints scorying positions. He finished the season in 10th place, with 84 points. He outpaced his two teammates, with Leblanc who scored 6 points and Gines none.

2006 season

He was confirmed by the French team Equipe du France GP Scrab also for 2006, with rookie Jules Cluzel as his partner. Guintoli finished the year in ninth position, scoring 96 points, with Cluzel 20th.

Return to MotoGP

2007 season

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. The Tech 3 team was one of the backmarkers and Guintoli has scored solid lower-order points in 2007, always qualifying in front of his teammate Makoto Tamada and the Kawasakis. He 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 finished the season in sixteenth place, with 50 points, against Tamada's 38.

2008 season

Guintoli at the 2008 United States Grand Prix.

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.

British Superbike Championship

2009

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.

He finished the season in 8th place, with 166 points, having scored one win and three further podiums in his first four races.

2017

In 2017, Guintoli returned to the British Superbike Championship riding a Suzuki. He skipped two rounds mid-season, having re-joined part-time the MotoGP class after six years to replace the injured Alex Rins, again for Suzuki.

With three rounds to go, he is currently classified on 15th position, with 79 points. He is the best Suzuki rider. His best result is a 4th place at the opening race at Silverstone on 10 September.

World Superbike Championship

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 teammate 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 Silverstone 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.

Other championships

Endurance

At the 2016-2017 FIM Endurance World Championship for riders, Guintoli was classified 59th with 21 points. He raced part-time that series for Yamaha.

Career statistics

All time

Series		Years Active	Races	Poles	Podiums	Wins	2nd place	3rd place	Fast Laps	Titles
250cc		2000-06	80	0	1	0	0	1	0	0
Moto GP		2002, 2007–08, 2011, 2017-2019	45	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
British Superbike Championship		2009, 2017	13	1	4	1	1	2	0	0
World Superbike Championship		2009−	170	4	42	9	18	13	12	1
Total			308	5	47	10	19	16	12	1

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year

(key)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Pos.	Pts
2000	250cc	Honda	RSA	MAL	JPN	SPA	FRA Ret	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR	GER	CZE	POR	VAL	BRA	PAC	AUS				NC	0
2001	250cc	Aprilia	JPN 15	RSA 12	SPA Ret	FRA 14	ITA Ret	CAT 18	NED 4	GBR 7	GER Ret	CZE 13	POR Ret	VAL 16	PAC 16	AUS Ret	MAL 9	BRA 11				14th	44
2002	MotoGP	Yamaha	JPN	RSA	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR	GER	CZE 17	POR	BRA	PAC	MAL	AUS	VAL				NC	0
2003	250cc	Aprilia	JPN 10	RSA 9	SPA Ret	FRA 6	ITA 5	CAT 8	NED 3	GBR Ret	GER Ret	CZE 8	POR 7	BRA 4	PAC Ret	MAL DNS	AUS Ret	VAL 4				10th	101
2004	250cc	Aprilia	RSA 15	SPA Ret	FRA Ret	ITA 13	CAT 7	NED Ret	BRA 12	GER 10	GBR 10	CZE Ret	POR Ret	JPN 19	QAT 11	MAL Ret	AUS 8	VAL Ret				14th	42
2005	250cc	Aprilia	SPA Ret	POR 8	CHN 12	FRA 9	ITA Ret	CAT 8	NED 12	GBR 9	GER 11	CZE 10	JPN 10	MAL 9	QAT 9	AUS 10	TUR 9	VAL 14				10th	84
2006	250cc	Aprilia	SPA 9	QAT 6	TUR 6	CHN 12	FRA 9	ITA 11	CAT 8	NED Ret	GBR 8	GER 10	CZE 9	MAL 7	AUS Ret	JPN Ret	POR 8	VAL 10				9th	96
2007	MotoGP	Yamaha	QAT 15	SPA 15	TUR 15	CHN 13	FRA 10	ITA 14	CAT 14	GBR 16	NED 14	GER Ret	USA 13	CZE 13	RSM 12	POR 14	JPN 4	AUS 14	MAL 19	VAL 11		16th	50
2008	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT 15	SPA 16	POR 15	CHN 15	FRA 13	ITA 11	CAT 13	GBR 13	NED 10	GER 6	USA 12	CZE 12	RSM 11	IND 7	JPN 14	AUS 14	MAL 13	VAL 12		13th	67
2011	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT	SPA	POR	FRA	CAT	GBR	NED	ITA	GER 17	USA	CZE	IND	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL		NC	0
2017	MotoGP	Suzuki	QAT	ARG	AME	SPA	FRA 15	ITA 17	CAT 17	NED	GER	CZE	AUT	GBR	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL		27th	1
2018	MotoGP	Suzuki	QAT	ARG	AME	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT Ret	NED	GER	CZE 19	AUT	GBR	RSM	ARA	THA	JPN 21	AUS	MAL	VAL	NC	0
2019	MotoGP	Suzuki	QAT	ARG	AME	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT 13	NED	GER	CZE	AUT	GBR	RSM	ARA	THA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	23th*	3*

British Superbike Championship

Races by year

Year	Class	Bike	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

Races by year

Year	Bike	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		14		Pos.	Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
2009	Suzuki	AUS	AUS	QAT	QAT	SPA	SPA	NED	NED	ITA	ITA	RSA	RSA	USA	USA	SMR	SMR	GBR	GBR	CZE	CZE	GER	GER	ITA	ITA	FRA	FRA	POR 10	POR Ret	33rd	6
2010	Suzuki	AUS 6	AUS 4	POR 13	POR 9	SPA 9	SPA 6	NED 14	NED 13	ITA 10	ITA 7	RSA 10	RSA 15	USA 8	USA 6	SMR 5	SMR 6	CZE 6	CZE 7	GBR 12	GBR 7	GER 8	GER 6	ITA 9	ITA 8	FRA DSQ	FRA 4			7th	197
2011	Ducati	AUS Ret	AUS DNS	EUR 11	EUR 11	NED Ret	NED 10	ITA 12	ITA 7	USA 3	USA 7	SMR 7	SMR 7	SPA 11	SPA 11	CZE 20	CZE 9	GBR 6	GBR 6	GER 6	GER 2	ITA 6	ITA 7	FRA 6	FRA 5	POR 2	POR 5			6th	210
2012	Ducati	AUS 3	AUS Ret	ITA Ret	ITA 11	NED 1	NED 2	ITA C	ITA Ret	EUR 8	EUR 5	USA 12	USA 10	SMR 8	SMR Ret	SPA 12	SPA 13	CZE	CZE	GBR 16	GBR 1	RUS Ret	RUS 11	GER 6	GER 10	POR 3	POR 4	FRA 1	FRA 3	7th	213.5
2013	Aprilia	AUS 1	AUS 2	SPA 2	SPA 2	NED 3	NED 6	ITA 4	ITA 4	GBR 3	GBR 2	POR 2	POR 2	ITA Ret	ITA 3	RUS 6	RUS C	GBR 4	GBR 6	GER 4	GER 5	TUR 4	TUR 3	USA 5	USA 5	FRA 2	FRA 3	SPA 4	SPA 3	3rd	402
2014	Aprilia	AUS 3	AUS 1	SPA 6	SPA 4	NED 1	NED 9	ITA 5	ITA 3	GBR 7	GBR 3	MAL 2	MAL 2	SMR 5	SMR 4	POR 2	POR 7	USA 2	USA 2	SPA 2	SPA 2	FRA 1	FRA 2	QAT 1	QAT 1					1st	416
2015	Honda	AUS 7	AUS 5	THA 5	THA 6	SPA 9	SPA Ret	NED 8	NED 7	ITA 8	ITA Ret	GBR 8	GBR 8	POR 5	POR 6	SMR 9	SMR 9	USA 7	USA Ret	MAL 4	MAL 4	SPA 10	SPA 9	FRA 3	FRA 6	QAT 10	QAT 5			6th	218
2016	Yamaha	AUS 6	AUS 5	THA 7	THA 6	SPA 9	SPA 10	NED Ret	NED 11	ITA DNS	ITA DNS	MAL	MAL	GBR	GBR	ITA	ITA	USA	USA	GER 9	GER 5	FRA 9	FRA 8	SPA 6	SPA 5	QAT 3	QAT 4			11th	141
2017	Kawasaki	AUS	AUS	THA	THA	SPA	SPA	NED	NED	ITA	ITA	GBR	GBR	ITA	ITA	USA	USA	GER	GER	POR	POR	FRA	FRA	SPA 6	SPA 8	QAT 8	QAT 8			18th	34