BSB: Progress boosts Guintoli ahead of Brands

Published: 13 April 2017

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Sylvain Guintoli is hopeful of a step forward with the all-new GSX-R1000 this weekend after a positive test at Mallory Park on Wednesday.

Despite a strong pre-season testing, Guintoli and the Bennetts Suzuki team were unable to trouble the frontrunners in the opening round of the MCE British Superbike Championship at Donington Park, but after a change of direction the Frenchman is confident with the progress made.

While many riders prefer the longer Grand Prix layout at Brands Hatch, Guintoli holds fond memories of the 1.2 mile Indy circuit as the venue of his debut BSB victory with Crescent Suzuki in 2009.

“We had a very interesting test this week, and we made a big step with the bike and our performance, but also with our understanding,” Guintoli explained. “The team has spent lots of time going over the data from Donington. We’ve gone in a different direction now, and made lots of progress and we set some fast times. We’ve done a lot of work with the electronics, as we needed to better understand how the bike works with them.

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“The engine makes a lot of power as standard, so in Superbike spec it’s really strong, and we needed to manage it better. We’ve also worked on rear suspension setup, and made some big progress. I’ve got some fond memories of Brands Hatch, I was on pole and won my first race with Suzuki in BSB in 2009. It’s an interesting circuit and it’s another one I know. But it’s going to be really competitive. We saw at Donington how competitive it was to be in the top-10, so around Brands Hatch it’s going to be really close. The extra test will help us more, and we’re planning on back-to-back testing some more components. We’ll then make a call on which way we go for the races.”

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By Oli Rushby

Former sports reporter covering British Superbikes, World Superbikes and road racing