Guintoli sixth without traction control!

At a time when electronics are being credited by some as the sole reason for Casey Stoner's remarkable run of form, fellow Ducati rider Sylvain Guintoli put the influence of electronics into perspective by claiming sixth in Sunday's soaking wet German Grand Prix - despite turning his traction control system off!

Starting from just 15th place, the Alice Team rider was up to tenth by lap two - when a warning light alerted him to a problem with the traction control on his Desmosedici, prompting the Frenchman to switch it off for the remaining 28 laps.

Guintoli then dropped back to eleventh as he adapted his riding style, but was soon having fun and rose to seventh by the halfway stage, which then became a season's best sixth place after Colin Edwards crashed out.

"This has been a weekend with ups and downs: Friday we were really fast while Saturday, after the morning fall, I felt a lot of pain in the neck and qualifying didn't go well," said Sylvain, whose previous best finish this season was tenth at Assen.

"But the race has gone much better, a pity only for the problem with the traction control: I preferred to switch it off, to not risk it, because I felt [comfortable] anyway. In this way I had to play a lot with the accelerator and I had a lot of fun.

"I have to thank my team, Ducati and Bridgestone: their support has been really important to reach this result."

"This is a really important result for us," declared Guintoli's engineer Sergio Verbena. "From the beginning of the season we have been working hard and finally we made it to conquer a dignified performance. Sylvain is improving at each race.

"Unluckily we had the problem with the traction control that we still have to check to make sure it will not happen again. Sylvain, to not risk anything, preferred to switch it off for almost all the race and this result, with this track conditions, is even more incredible.

"Probably he could have left in on because the system finds the problem and solves it, but for how the race went we can't say anything to him. Congratulation to him and to every member of our team for the work done in the weekend."

Team-mate Toni Elias had full use of his traction control, but finished a lap down in twelfth, ahead of only Nicky Hayden, who made a pit stop.

"Probably we made a mistake with the set up of the bike because I felt a lot of weight on the front and I couldn't handle the rear," he explained. "Only in the lasts laps I have registered acceptable lap times. This has probably been one of the worst performances I have done with a wet track. The data acquired will be useful if we will meet again this track conditions. I remain positive and I will look for revenge in America."

The US Grand Prix takes place this weekend.