Sylvain Guintoli

Sylvain Jean-Baptiste Guintoli (born 24 June 1982) is a French professional motorcycle racer and race analyst for television. He was FIM World Superbike Champion in 2014. Until the Suzuki MotoGP team's withdrawal from racing in 2022, he was contracted as their test and development rider, with occasional race entries as a wild card or replacement rider.

In 2024, Guintoli was contracted as a test rider, together with Bradley Smith, for the BMW Motorrad world superbike team, delivered by Shaun Muir Racing.

Guintoli 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. For 2017, he competed in the British Superbike Championship with the then-new Suzuki GSX-R1000.

In 2021, Guintoli was the winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race on Suzuki together with Xavier Simeon and Gregg Black, followed by the Bol d'Or and finally the Championship. In 2022, he suffered a wrist injury preventing his entry into the Suzuka 8 Hours race and also as a replacement for Joan Mir in MotoGP.

Career 250cc & MotoGP World Championship 2000 Guintoli made his grand prix debut in the 250cc class for the Équipe du France, partnering Julian da Costa for the French GP, with a Honda. He qualified 24th out of 33 riders, two second and a half faster than da Costa, 32nd. He retired during the first few laps with a mechanical issue.

2001 Guintoli joined the French team Équipe du France - Scrab GP with fellow Frenchman Randy de Puniet in 250 Grand-Prix. He finished 14th in the 250 World Championship with 44 points. His best result was a fourth place at the Dutch grand prix. He raced an Aprilia 250.

2002 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 and finished 17th. This was his last race of the year, as he returned to his test drive position until the end of the year.

2003 For the 2003 season, Guintoli returned to the 250cc class, racing for the Campetella Racing, riding a private Aprilia, partnering Italian Franco Battaini. He showed some good pace, fighting consistently for midpoints scoring positions.

Guintoli finished his first race of the year, at Suzuka in 9th place.

Guintoli 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 strong points, finishing in fourth place twice, at the Rio GP and at Valencia.

Guintoli finished the year in tenth place with 104 points.

2004 For the 2004 season, Guintoli remained with Campetella Racing, riding again on a private 250 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 seventh place at Barcelona. Battaini finished in front of the Frenchman in tenth place with 93 points and Olivé behind in 19th place with 27 points.

2005 For the 2005 season, Guintoli returned to the Équipe du France GP Scrab, partnered first by Grégory Leblanc and then by Mathieu Gines, both French. He once again rode an Aprilia 250.

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

2006 Guintoli 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 After having several years in the 250 cc class, Guintoli 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 tenth. He finished fourth 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

Guintoli 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 sixth 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 first and second 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 fibula in his right leg, with him expected to miss several rounds He finished the season in eighth 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, Guintoli was classified on 15th position, with 79 points, and was the highest placed Suzuki rider. His best result was a fourth place at the opening race at Silverstone on 10 September, till another fourth place and a final win, first, at Assen.

Superbike World Championship

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. 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 would 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 World Superbike champion since Raymond Roche in 1990. For the 2015 Superbike World Championship season, he joined Pata Honda World Superbike. He finished in front of his young teammate Michael van der Mark in the championship.

In 2016, Guintoli was hired by the new factory Yamaha World Superbike Team to ride the new R1. He suffered a brutal crash in Imola and broke several bones. He missed ten races but came back to finish the season with a first podium for the squad in Doha, Qatar. He also ended the season in front of his teammate Alex Lowes.

Other championships Endurance Guintoli's first race in the World Endurance Championship was at the end of 2010. He rode for Suzuki SERT Team in the final round Doha, Qatar. They won the race and the 2010 World title following this result.

Guintoli also raced for the factory Suzuki Yoshimura Team in the Suzuka 8H in 2017 (7th), 2018 (10th) and 2019 (5th).

For the EWC 2021 season, Guintoli was part of the Championship-winning team with Gregg Black and Xavier Siméon riding for Yoshimura-Sert Suzuki.

Le Mans cars Having won the Le Mans 24-hour motorcycle endurance race, Guintoli has ambitions to become a successful car driver and be the first Le Mans 24-hour winner on both two and four wheels.

Career statistics All-time statistics Series Years Races Poles Podiums Wins 2nd place 3rd place Fastest laps Titles 250cc World Championship 2000–2006 80 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 MotoGP World Championship 2002, 2007–2008, 2011, 2017–2019 48 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 British Superbike Championship 2009, 2017 13 1 4 1 1 2 0 0 Superbike World Championship 2009−2017 170 4 42 9 18 13 12 1 Total 311 5 47 10 19 16 12 1

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

British Superbike Championship

Races by year (key) (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R3 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R3 Suzuki DONRet DON7 BHIRet BHI10 OULRet OUL11 KNO8 KNO14 SNE10 SNE9 BHGPRet BHGP17 THR10 THR8 CAD18 CAD10 SIL13 SIL4 SILRet OULRet OUL11 ASS4 ASS1 BHGPDNS BHGP12 BHGP11 13th 131

Superbike World Championship

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) 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 POR10 PORRet 33rd 6 2010 Suzuki AUS6 AUS4 POR13 POR9 SPA9 SPA6 NED14 NED13 ITA10 ITA7 RSA10 RSA15 USA8 USA6 SMR5 SMR6 CZE6 CZE7 GBR12 GBR7 GER8 GER6 ITA9 ITA8 FRADSQ FRA4 7th 197 2011 Ducati AUSRet AUSDNS EUR11 EUR11 NEDRet NED10 ITA12 ITA7 USA3 USA7 SMR7 SMR7 SPA11 SPA11 CZE20 CZE9 GBR6 GBR6 GER6 GER2 ITA6 ITA7 FRA6 FRA5 POR2 POR5 6th 210 2012 Ducati AUS3 AUSRet ITARet ITA11 NED1 NED2 ITAC ITARet EUR8 EUR5 USA12 USA10 SMR8 SMRRet SPA12 SPA13 CZE CZE GBR16 GBR1 RUSRet RUS11 GER6 GER10 POR3 POR4 FRA1 FRA3 7th 213.5 2013 Aprilia AUS1 AUS2 SPA2 SPA2 NED3 NED6 ITA4 ITA4 GBR3 GBR2 POR2 POR2 ITARet ITA3 RUS6 RUSC GBR4 GBR6 GER4 GER5 TUR4 TUR3 USA5 USA5 FRA2 FRA3 SPA4 SPA3 3rd 402 2014 Aprilia AUS3 AUS1 SPA6 SPA4 NED1 NED9 ITA5 ITA3 GBR7 GBR3 MAL2 MAL2 SMR5 SMR4 POR2 POR7 USA2 USA2 SPA2 SPA2 FRA1 FRA2 QAT1 QAT1 1st 416 2015 Honda AUS7 AUS5 THA5 THA6 SPA9 SPARet NED8 NED7 ITA8 ITARet GBR8 GBR8 POR5 POR6 SMR9 SMR9 USA7 USARet MAL4 MAL4 SPA10 SPA9 FRA3 FRA6 QAT10 QAT5 6th 218 2016 Yamaha AUS6 AUS5 THA7 THA6 SPA9 SPA10 NEDRet NED11 ITADNS ITADNS MAL MAL GBR GBR ITA ITA USA USA GER9 GER5 FRA9 FRA8 SPA6 SPA5 QAT3 QAT4 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 SPA6 SPA8 QAT8 QAT8 18th 34

FIM EWC By year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Bike 1 2 3 4 Pos Pts Grid 8 Hrs 16 Hrs 24 Hrs Grid 8 Hrs 12 Hrs Grid 8 Hrs 16 Hrs 24 Hrs Grid 6 Hrs 2021 Suzuki GSX-R 1000R LMS LMS LMS LMS EST EST EST BOL BOL BOL BOL MOS MOS 1st 175,5

By team Year Team Bike Tyre Rider 2025 BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team BMW M1000RR Markus Reiterberger Steven Odendaal Sylvain Guintoli 70* 2nd* Source:

Suzuka 8 Hours Year Class Team Co-riders Bike Pos 2026 EWC AutoRace Ube Racing Team Naomichi Uramoto Hannes Soomer BMW M1000RR TBD