Sylvain Guintoli

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 an 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 mid-points 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 team-mate 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 mid-points 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.

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 team-mate 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

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.

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 driving 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 driver. His best result is a 4th place at the opening race at Silverstone on September, 10th.

World Superbike 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. 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.

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

Races by year

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Races by year