Sylvain Guintoli claims riding at Silverstone this weekend will be like 'returning to MotoGP'.
The Frenchman - who missed five events after suffering a broken tibia and fibula in round three at Donington Park - made his BSB comeback at the claustrophobic Cadwell Park circuit, where he took a seventh place finish in race two.
Guintoli then managed only a single 13th place finish at the following Croft round, but hopes the wide Silverstone circuit will play more into his hands this weekend.
"I'm looking forward to this weekend. We visited the track last week on a track day so I could do the first stage of familiarisation,” said the Worx Crescent Suzuki rider. “After Cadwell Park and Croft it's like returning to MotoGP, being that the track is so wide and in places so fast – and of course it is a former GP track.
"The layout certainly creates some challenges. The first half of the lap is fast and flowing – which I can see me and the Suzuki enjoying – but after that it gets twistier and twistier until you almost come to a stop at the final chicane. That bit isn't so easy to like and will be hard to race as well as it makes overtakes risky. We'll see."
Guintoli took one win and four podiums from his first four BSB races, but team manager Jack Valentine believes it's important to remember that he's still far from fully fit.
"While we've still got high hopes, we must remain realistic and acknowledge we are in comeback mode at this time,” he said. “And the most important news we've received this past week is that x-rays revealed no injury to Sylvain's leg from his two Croft crashes, and in fact his leg continues to heal with every passing day.
"I can, though, see Sylvain liking this track as there are plenty of elements of the design which are GP-spec - I think there's potential for him to do well here. But our goals should be for Sylvain to get dialled into the circuit, to progress with his set-up and improve his lap times in preparation for next year.
“Being that we love to race we can't deny a good result would still be great,” he confessed.
