BSB: Guintoli: 'We have to keep working'

Sylvain Guintoli has admitted he isn’t where he expected to be as the second half of the 2017 MCE British Superbike Championship gets underway at Thruxton this weekend.

The 2014 World Superbike Champion’s talent cannot be doubted, as shown by his stunning ride alongside Josh Brookes and Takuya Tsuda this weekend at Suzuka as they recovered from 67^th to seventh position in the eight hour race.

However, he has struggled to click with the BSB-spec GSX-R1000 in the first half of the year. He sits just 16^th in the championship standings after a dismal start to the year with a best result of seventh place at the first round at Donington Park.   

“We’re not where we expected to be,” Guintoli told MCN at Brands Hatch. “The reality is our best race was the first race. We have to keep working and keep hoping that things are going to get better.

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“Overall, we are trying to make the full package work. I said at the start of the season we have a strong engine but at the moment we’re still not able to use it properly in an efficient way.

“One race we aren’t so bad, the next we struggle. Overall there are still some big steps to make. It’s a bit of everything, I’ve told the team what I think the weaknesses are. It’s very interesting to have been riding the Japanese bike at Suzuka, which is very different, now it’s down to the team to make it work.” 

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