WSB: Guintoli to race Jerez and Qatar with Puccetti?

Sylvain Guintoli could make a return to the Superbike World Championship before the end of the 2017 season with the Puccetti Kawasaki team he’s in talks with for next year.

With Puccetti’s World Supersport championship challenger Kenan Sofuoglu ruled out for the remainder of the year with a broken hip, MCN understands team boss Manuel Puccetti could opt to re-jig his Supersport and World Superbike efforts, moving Anthony West into Supersport and putting Guintoli on the ZX-10RR Superbike machine for the remaining two rounds in Jerez and Qatar – both of which take place after the British Superbike championship concludes at Brands Hatch.

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Leon Haslam had been pencilled in to ride for Puccetti in Jerez and Qatar, but after turning down the Italian’s offer for a seat next year, it’s thought those plans fell through.

When quizzed about the rumours, Guintoli told MCN: “There’s nothing done yet, but we are talking.” 

Such a move could lead to Guintoli signing with the WSB team for 2018 as has been rumoured for a while. However, the Frenchman told MCN in Assen he’s not averse to staying in Britain next year, but with BSB seats filling up quickly he’d have to make that decision relatively soon. 

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