Sylvain Guintoli

Sylvain Guintoli
Guintoli at Silverstone in 2010
Nationality	French
Born	(1982-06-24) 24 June 1982 (age 42) Montélimar, France
Bike number	50
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2002, 2007–2008, 2017–2019 Manufacturers Yamaha, Ducati, Suzuki 2019 championship position 25th (7 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 48 0 0 0 0 125 250cc World Championship Active years 2001, 2003–2006 Manufacturers Aprilia 2006 championship position 9th (96 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 80 0 1 0 0 367 Superbike World Championship Active years 2009–2017 Manufacturers Suzuki, Ducati, Aprilia, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki Championships 1 (2014) 2017 championship position 18th (34 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 170 9 42 4 12 1837.5

Sylvain Guintoli (born 24 June 1982) is a French professional motorcycle racer and race analyst for television.^[1] 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.^[2][3][4]

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.^[5]

He 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 he was the winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race on Suzuki together with Xavier Simeon and Gregg Black,^[6] followed by the Bol d'Or and finally the Championship.^[7] 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.^[8][9]

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.^[10]

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 4th place at the Dutch grand prix. He raced an Aprilia 250.

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.

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.

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

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

He finished the year in 10th place with 104 points.

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 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.

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 10th place, with 84 points. He outpaced his two teammates, with Leblanc who scored 6 points and Gines none.

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.

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",^[11] but suffered a setback early in testing when he crashed and broke his collarbone, eliminating him from testing for several weeks.^[12] 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 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.

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.

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.^[13] 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 fibula in his right leg, with him expected to miss several rounds He finished the season in 8th place, with 166 points, having scored one win and three further podiums in his first four races.

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, he is currently classified on 15th position, with 79 points. He is the best Suzuki rider. His best result is a 4th place at the opening race at Silverstone on 10 September, till another 4th place and a final win, 1st, at Assen.

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.^[14] But when Max Neukirchner suddenly left Suzuki to join Honda,^[15] Guintoli was drafted in as his replacement for the 2010 season.^[16] Guintoli then rode the final World Superbike Championship round of the 2009 season in Portimão finishing tenth in the second race.^[17] 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.^[18] He did not finish as high as fourth again until round nine, but had scored points in every race at this stage.^[19] 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,^[20] 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.^[21] 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.^[22] He finished in front of his young Teammate Michael Van Der Mark in the Championship.

In 2016, he 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 10 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.

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.

He 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.^[23][7]

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.^[24][25]

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

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

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Pos	Pts
2000	250cc	Honda	RSA	MAL	JPN	SPA	FRA Ret	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR	GER	CZE	POR	VAL	BRA	PAC	AUS				NC	0
2001	250cc	Aprilia	JPN 15	RSA 12	SPA Ret	FRA 14	ITA Ret	CAT 18	NED 4	GBR 7	GER Ret	CZE 13	POR Ret	VAL 16	PAC 16	AUS Ret	MAL 9	BRA 11				14th	44
2002	MotoGP	Yamaha	JPN	RSA	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR	GER	CZE 17	POR	BRA	PAC	MAL	AUS	VAL				NC	0
2003	250cc	Aprilia	JPN 10	RSA 9	SPA Ret	FRA 6	ITA 5	CAT 8	NED 3	GBR Ret	GER Ret	CZE 8	POR 7	BRA 4	PAC Ret	MAL DNS	AUS Ret	VAL 4				10th	101
2004	250cc	Aprilia	RSA 15	SPA Ret	FRA Ret	ITA 13	CAT 7	NED Ret	BRA 12	GER 10	GBR 10	CZE Ret	POR Ret	JPN 19	QAT 11	MAL Ret	AUS 8	VAL Ret				14th	42
2005	250cc	Aprilia	SPA Ret	POR 8	CHN 12	FRA 9	ITA Ret	CAT 8	NED 12	GBR 9	GER 11	CZE 10	JPN 10	MAL 9	QAT 9	AUS 10	TUR 9	VAL 14				10th	84
2006	250cc	Aprilia	SPA 9	QAT 6	TUR 6	CHN 12	FRA 9	ITA 11	CAT 8	NED Ret	GBR 8	GER 10	CZE 9	MAL 7	AUS Ret	JPN Ret	POR 8	VAL 10				9th	96
2007	MotoGP	Yamaha	QAT 15	SPA 15	TUR 15	CHN 13	FRA 10	ITA 14	CAT 14	GBR 16	NED 14	GER Ret	USA 13	CZE 13	RSM 12	POR 14	JPN 4	AUS 14	MAL 19	VAL 11		16th	50
2008	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT 15	SPA 16	POR 15	CHN 15	FRA 13	ITA 11	CAT 13	GBR 13	NED 10	GER 6	USA 12	CZE 12	RSM 11	IND 7	JPN 14	AUS 14	MAL 13	VAL 12		13th	67
2011	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT	SPA	POR	FRA	CAT	GBR	NED	ITA	GER 17	USA	CZE	IND	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL		NC	0
2017	MotoGP	Suzuki	QAT	ARG	AME	SPA	FRA 15	ITA 17	CAT 17	NED	GER	CZE	AUT	GBR	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL		27th	1
2018	MotoGP	Suzuki	QAT	ARG	AME	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT Ret	NED	GER	CZE 19	AUT	GBR	RSM	ARA	THA	JPN 21	AUS	MAL	VAL	31st	0
2019	MotoGP	Suzuki	QAT	ARG	AME	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT 13	NED	GER	CZE 20	AUT	GBR 12	RSM	ARA	THA	JPN 20	AUS	MAL	VAL	25th	7

(key)

Year	Bike	BHI		OUL		DON		THR		SNE		KNO		MAL		BHGP			CAD		CRO		SIL		OUL			Pos	Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R3	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R3
2009	Suzuki	1	2	3	3	DNS	DNS												8	7	Ret	13	7	8	5	5	5	8th	147

	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			13st	131

(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	POR 10	POR Ret	33rd	6
2010	Suzuki	AUS 6	AUS 4	POR 13	POR 9	SPA 9	SPA 6	NED 14	NED 13	ITA 10	ITA 7	RSA 10	RSA 15	USA 8	USA 6	SMR 5	SMR 6	CZE 6	CZE 7	GBR 12	GBR 7	GER 8	GER 6	ITA 9	ITA 8	FRA DSQ	FRA 4			7th	197
2011	Ducati	AUS Ret	AUS DNS	EUR 11	EUR 11	NED Ret	NED 10	ITA 12	ITA 7	USA 3	USA 7	SMR 7	SMR 7	SPA 11	SPA 11	CZE 20	CZE 9	GBR 6	GBR 6	GER 6	GER 2	ITA 6	ITA 7	FRA 6	FRA 5	POR 2	POR 5			6th	210
2012	Ducati	AUS 3	AUS Ret	ITA Ret	ITA 11	NED 1	NED 2	ITA C	ITA Ret	EUR 8	EUR 5	USA 12	USA 10	SMR 8	SMR Ret	SPA 12	SPA 13	CZE	CZE	GBR 16	GBR 1	RUS Ret	RUS 11	GER 6	GER 10	POR 3	POR 4	FRA 1	FRA 3	7th	213.5
2013	Aprilia	AUS 1	AUS 2	SPA 2	SPA 2	NED 3	NED 6	ITA 4	ITA 4	GBR 3	GBR 2	POR 2	POR 2	ITA Ret	ITA 3	RUS 6	RUS C	GBR 4	GBR 6	GER 4	GER 5	TUR 4	TUR 3	USA 5	USA 5	FRA 2	FRA 3	SPA 4	SPA 3	3rd	402
2014	Aprilia	AUS 3	AUS 1	SPA 6	SPA 4	NED 1	NED 9	ITA 5	ITA 3	GBR 7	GBR 3	MAL 2	MAL 2	SMR 5	SMR 4	POR 2	POR 7	USA 2	USA 2	SPA 2	SPA 2	FRA 1	FRA 2	QAT 1	QAT 1					1st	416
2015	Honda	AUS 7	AUS 5	THA 5	THA 6	SPA 9	SPA Ret	NED 8	NED 7	ITA 8	ITA Ret	GBR 8	GBR 8	POR 5	POR 6	SMR 9	SMR 9	USA 7	USA Ret	MAL 4	MAL 4	SPA 10	SPA 9	FRA 3	FRA 6	QAT 10	QAT 5			6th	218
2016	Yamaha	AUS 6	AUS 5	THA 7	THA 6	SPA 9	SPA 10	NED Ret	NED 11	ITA DNS	ITA DNS	MAL	MAL	GBR	GBR	ITA	ITA	USA	USA	GER 9	GER 5	FRA 9	FRA 8	SPA 6	SPA 5	QAT 3	QAT 4			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	SPA 6	SPA 8	QAT 8	QAT 8			18th	34

(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 4	LMS 10	LMS 10	LMS 10	EST 3	EST 0	EST 9	BOL 5	BOL 10	BOL 10	BOL 40	MOS 3	MOS 31,5	1st	175,5

• Sylvain Guintoli at MotoGP.com
• Sylvain Guintoli at WorldSBK.com