Sylvain Guintoli

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French motorcycle road racer Sylvain Guintoli began his professional career as a scooter racer in France. He arrived on the 250GP scene as a wildcard rider in 2000. He then joined the series full-time the year after. In 2002 he became a back-up rider for the Gauloises Yamaha Tech 3 Team, which then competed on the now extinct Yamaha YZR500 two-stroke. Guintolli was only given one opportunity to race that season at the Czech Republic round, where he finished in 17th-place.

The following season he reentered full-time competition with the Aprilia team in the 250GP class. He would continue with the team for four consecutive years, culminating with a ninth-place finish overall at the end of 2006. The year after, the Frenchmen returned to the MotoGP class aboard a Tech 3 Yamaha M1. In 2008, he switched to the Pramac Ducati team, finishing in 13th at the end of the season.

Unable to secure a premier GP ride, Guintoli moved to the British Superbike Championship (BSB) for 2009 with the Worx Crescent Suzuki Team. Guintoli started the season strong but broke his leg early in his campaign, forcing him out of competition until the final round in Portugal.

The 28-year-old then competed in the 2010 World Superbike Championship aboard a Suzuki GSX-R1000 fielded by the Alstare Suzuki Racing Team. The Frenchman managed quite well, finishing seventh overall through consistent top-10 finishes. The following season Guintoli nabbed three podiums after moving to the non-factory Liberty Racing Team with a Ducati 1198 F10. The Frenchman finished sixth overall in the championship – the highest finish in his World Superbike career.
 
Guintoli started the 2012 season piloting a Ducati for Liberty Racing and in the first race of the year took a podium finish in third. He wasn’t able to follow up his performance in Race 2 though, scoring a DNF, and he continued to struggle through the next round at Imola. At Assen, Guintoli’s fortunes changed when he notched the first WSBK race win of his career in a red-flagged, incident-packed contest. Following the unstable start to the season, he ran within the top-10 for most races, only slipping outside that mark a few times.

Guintoli’s season became especially strange prior to the round at Brno when it was announced that he would be released from the team due to management re-organization. He was quickly picked up by PATA Racing, and in his first round back at Silverstone managed to earn his second race win of the season. His performance improved during the latter portion of the year, marked by a 1-3 finish in the final round at Magny-Cours. In total he earned seven podiums and three wins. Though he finished seventh overall, 2012 marked one of his best seasons yet in World Superbike.

Following the end of his 2012 campaign, it was announced that he had signed to ride with FIXI Crescent Suzuki for 2013. Soon after the announcement, Suzuki revealed that Guintoli had changed his mind and would forego the Gixxer for a chance to ride with a rival team. In November it was revealed that the rival team was Aprilia Racing, and that Guintoli would contest the 2013 WSBK championship aboard an RSV4 alongside teammate Eugene Laverty.