Bennetts Suzuki’s Sylvain Guintoli made his return to the Oulton Park track during the MCE British Superbike test and admitted that it was a ‘bit of a shock’.

The former World SBK Champion has not raced at the Cheshire circuit for eight years and spent the three test sessions getting accustomed once again to the tricky layout, but felt his team made some ground on braking performance.

Not only that, the rider is still developing the GSX-R1000 and understands it will be a constantl- evolving package of learning and testing throughout the year. But his aim is to be up the sharp end with the leading group of riders and he certainly has the talent to do that.

“First to get comfortable again with the track because I haven’t been here for a while now, and it is not one to underestimate. Oulton Park its a very difficult track and very bumpy, and it was a bit of a shock coming back here, it felt very narrow,” said Guintoli, speaking to bikesportnews.com at the track.

“It is a difficult track so for us having the opportunity to do this test is great, and we will work on the bike again to try and get a bit more understanding of it. At Brands we had a few limitations that it seems we have managed to make a bit better, on the braking.”

Guintoli was 13th in the overall combined timesheets this afternoon during the test session, but wants to build on his pace in order to be fighting for podiums. During the last round at Brands Hatch Indy he came away with a top ten finish in the final race.

“This year BSB is very competitive, at the front there are loads of very fast guys and we have to be part of this group we have to develop the bike to be able to compete.

“Like with every new bike, the Suzuki is a very good base bike and the Stock is running in the front straight away but to make it work in Superbike there is lots to do. It is going to be a constant evolution throughout the year.”