WSB: Limitations Hold Guintoli Back

After a tough start to the season due to a neck injury suffered in winter testing, Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda) made progress at the Assen round, and watched his team-mate Michael van der Mark finish on the podium twice.

But at Imola, the upward trend was not evident after three qualifying sessions had been completed, as he sat 15^th from the 22 riders on show.

“We are still struggling a lot,” said Guintoli. “In Assen we both managed to be a lot closer but here the main problem we have is that we are struggling to stop the bike. I can come in slow and be OK – but it hurts the lap times. Or I can come in a bit harder – and you lose the ability to turn. So we are just struggling for pace.”

What is missing to allow his machine to perform in a more repeatable and consistent fashion is as yet uncertain for Guintoli. “I think it is the same story from the start of the year, just a little bit of everything,” he said. “For me it is that the new rules are not suiting the bike very well, with the masses inside the engine, so we are struggling to be competitive. Compared to the fast times, on the data we are not losing big chunks – it is just a little bit everywhere. This is one of the worst tracks for it and it feels like it is probably the worst one yet. I am not so sure what we need because we are working hard to perform more. It takes time to figure it out.”