French rider Sylvain Guintoli has been confirmed by the Suzuki Ecstar team to race the Suzuki´s GSX-RR in the French GP in Le Mans on May 21st and any further races where the team may need his help until factory rider Alex Rins is fully recovered and able to return to competition.
Guintoli will join the team in Jerez to take part in Tuesday´s test day, so that he can become acquainted with the factory MotoGP machine and start the adaptation process.
He will succeed Takuya Tsuda aboard Rins' GSX-RR, after Tsuda´s participation in the Spanish GP and the test on Monday after the race.
"First, I would like to thank Suzuki for giving me this fantastic opportunity,” he said. “Being able to ride the GSX-RR, currently one of the fastest racing machine in the world is a very exciting prospect, let alone at my home race in front of the French fans.”
“The ‘Le Mans Grand Prix' brings back a lot of strong memories, the best one of course was leading the MotoGP race for a few laps in 2007. This is going to be a very difficult challenge, adapting to the very powerful prototype MotoGP machine and the Michelin tires, but my main goal is to enjoy the experience and give 100% commitment to the Team SUZUKI ECSTAR. The test on Tuesday will give us some time to adapt and to start understanding this amazing motorcycle. Finally, I want to wish a very good recovery to Alex."
The choice of Sylvain Guintoli to substitute the injured Alex Rins is a sort of natural choice for the team: not only he has been Superbike World Champion in 2014, but he also already has experience in MotoGP, and is already a Suzuki rider.
He is currently competing in the British Superbike Championship with team Bennetts Suzuki aboard the brand new Suzuki GSX-R1000R. He is in 12th position with 15 points, and participation in the MotoGP rounds will not clash with any races of the BSB calendar.
