Sylvain Guintoli had to wait nearly all season before clinching his first MCE British Superbike race win of 2017, but he did it in emphatic style at Assen.
He very nearly could have made it a double race victory, but he slipped back to fourth in the first race but showed that he had the pace to fight with the likes of Leon Haslam, Josh Brookes and James Ellison.
What has aided the Frenchman was changing from a standard, to a factory swing-arm on the GSXR-1000. Guintoli did initially start the year with a factory swing-arm then the team reverted to the standard one, and at Oulton they made a return to the factory setup.
The Suzuki is working better, but the Leicestershire based racer admitted that this season has been ‘difficult’ but now they are understanding the bike much better and are improving. The former World Superbike champ is now relishing being back on the top step of the podium once again.
“It is the first victory of Suzuki in England and for us it has been difficult, the championship is very competitive and there are strong riders with strong bikes,” said Guintoli at the circuit.
“The bike has got strong points and we saw that. The drive is strong and it is strong on brakes. We have weaknesses to work on but it was a great race and great fun and the fighting on track I don’t remember fighting like this on track and it was awesome with people diving everywhere so this feels great especially after the difficult season.
“The whole package has started to work now we have got since Oulton Park the factory swing arm back, which I liked at the start of the season and then we went back to the standard one and now this is starting to work better and we are understanding it better. We have got a strong engine and here we found some good balance and it is great to be back on the top step of the podium and fighting with the boys.”
