Guintoli sits out opening day at Jerez following highside

Reigning World Superbike champion Sylvain Guintoli has been foced to sit out the opening day of the final European test of the winter after an early morning highside left him with shoulder and ankle injuries.

The Frenchman was on his first flying lap of the test when he was highsided off his Pata Honda machine at turn two, with a likely combination of technical problems on the Pata Honda and cold tyres and track the contributing factors.

He then elected to sit out the remainder of the day, after experiencing problems with the nerves in his shoulder. Initial x-rays carried out at the track, of both that joint and his ankle, showed no breaks, but he will travel to a local hospital later today for further scans before assessing whether he will take to track tomorrow.

With last week’s testing at Aragon and Portimao cut short by cold temperatures and wet tracks, Guintoli may now travel to the first round of the series – in only three weeks time – at a significant disadvantage to his rivals. However, he will have two further days testing at Philip Island before the Australian season opener.