Superbike: For Sylvain Guintoli an “unbelievable” title

Thanks to the double achieved today in the Qatar round, Sylvain Guintoli managed to become World Superbike Champion, taking the title from Tom Sykes, from whom he recovered by 44 points after Laguna Seca.

To achieve this extraordinary result and turn the tide of a battle in which he was 12 points down on the eve, Guintoli had to outdo himself, achieving his first double in the competition and setting the new race record lap of 1'57.906.
In Race 2 the official Aprilia rider made the most of the speed qualities of his RSV4 on the long and well-lit Qatari straight, overtaking Sykes at the start of the fourth lap and, in the following lap, doing the same on Jonathan Rea, thus taking the lead race.

The defending champion tried to do everything he could to catch up with the Frenchman, who however had an unattainable pace for the competition. Due to a mistake at the end, Sykes was overtaken again by Rea, finishing on the lowest step of the podium. Thanks to second place in the race, the Pata Honda rider finished third in the final standings with just one point ahead of Melandri.

"I can not believe it. I thought about this double victory for the whole month before the race. I have never felt so comfortable riding this bike or any other” – he declared Sylvain Guintoli – “I had a lot of fun even though the season was tough, but I gave my all and tried to make as few mistakes as possible. Tom was very strong and consistent. After Laguna, the situation was difficult given the 44 points of delay. We managed to recover and in this last round I showed that I have what it takes to win. I proved it especially to myself and I'm happy. I think I will fully realize this feat only later, now I am simply overwhelmed with emotions.”

“I have no problem offering my congratulations to a deserving champion. We did everything we could during the season and, obviously, some accidents come to mind” – he said Tom Sykes – “But it happened like this, we can't do anything about it, in the end whoever wins takes home the title. After the final rounds, we knew that Sylvain and the Aprilia would be very competitive. He had a great season. Today we weren't at our best, I tried to give my all in race two, but it wasn't enough. These are races. Luckily there's not too long until the start of next season, so I won't have much time to blame myself.”

To finish the report on Race 2, Marco Melandri won the battle for fourth position over Toni Elias and Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team), the latter responsible for an off-track exit in the initial stages, which took away his chance to fight for the podium.

Completing the top 10 were Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team), Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) and Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike).
The best placing in the EVO class went to David Salom who had already graduated as the final winner at the conclusion of race 1.

Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia – EVO), Aaron Yates (Team Hero EBR), Eugene Laverty and Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki – EVO) were out of the game due to crashes.

Final ranking: 1. Guintoli 416; 2. Sykes 410; 3. Rea 334; 4. Melandri 333; 5. Baz 311; 6. Davies 215; 7. Haslam 187; 8. Giugliano 181; 9. Elias 171; 10. Laverty 161; 11. Lowes 139; 12. Salom 103; 13. Canepa 73; 14. Guarnoni 45; 15. Barrier 40; 16. Camier 37; 17. Courts 27; 18. Morais 24; 19. Andreozzi 22; 20. Foret 20; 21. Lanzi 19; 22. Staring 18; 23. Neukirchner 17; 24. Scassa 16; 25. Rizmayer 7; 26. Allerton 6; 27. Bos 5; 28. Toth 5; 29. Goi 5; 30. Russian 5; 31. Pegram 2; 32. Fabrizio 2; 33. Lanusse 1. Manufacturers: 1. Aprilia 468; 2. Kawasaki 431; 3. Honda 350; 4. Ducati 291; 5. Suzuki 234; 6. BMW 81; 7. MV Agusta 34; 8. HEB 2.