Guintoli leads Suzuki strike force
Former WSB champ, Guintoli is raring to go on new GSX-R1000 and is aiming for a fast start
Leading the challenge to get amongst the battle between Shakey and Haslam is 2014 World Superbike Champion Sylvain Guintoli who makes his return to the MCE British Superbike Championship. A world champion just three years ago, Guintoli’s calibre speaks for itself and he already has a BSB victory to his name after a brief foray into the series in 2009. The only question mark is the unproven, new Suzuki GSX-R1000. But, having received rave reviews from journalists at the launch in Phillip Island, the new GSX-R appears to be a huge step forward for Suzuki and while he remains modest, Guintoli cannot hide a sense of quiet confidence after pre-season testing. “Before we went testing in Spain I did quite a few laps on the stock bike and even that was quite amazing,” he told MCN. “The way the new Suzuki is built, the dimensions, the engine position and how the engine works is ideal for a race bike. It’s been built with racing in mind, the bloke who was the project leader for this was the man in charge of the MotoGP project for many years and he’s used that experience.” Having also spent time testing the Yoshimura Suzuka Eight Hour bike he’ll ride at the event in July as well as his Yoshimura-spec BSB machine, Guintoli is confident ahead of the season’s start. “Our test in Almeria went well, our times were pretty quick but it’s hard to say exactly where we are as we’ve not been against everyone else yet. We’ve spent the past few months identifying weaknesses and improving them.” The Suzuki is the first sportsbike to feature variable valve timing and Guintoli believes that the linear power delivery will be a key asset. “With the variable valve system, on the road bike and the race bike the delivery of the torque is very clean, very smooth! We hope that this will be an advantage. It's the general character of the engine so it should help everywhere, in every phase of the acceleration. It should help with tyre wear, too, and when you don’t have electronics to compensate for weaknesses, the engine character is really important.” With arguably the toughest field BSB has ever seen, the former MotoGP man says his Bennetts Suzuki team can’t afford to give points away by taking it easy in the first few rounds. “There is some tough competition this year, so I’ll be setting out to go as fast as I can straight away! I don’t think we’re at our maximum potential, so we’ll see how it goes. At this moment, our potential is strong but we still have work to do.”
‘The variable valve timing means the torque is very clean. We hope it’ll be an advantage ’