Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/605808
INTERVIEW WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP RACER ALEX LOWES P96 scenes to get the bike more competitive. Wherever we start after the first test the bike is going to get better. If you want to challenge to win in World Superbike that really needs to happen. I believe I have been riding well in 2015. I have dealt with a lot of dif- ficult situations this year really well." GUINTOLI BACK ON TRACK TO THE TOP A fter moving from the Aprilia Racing Team to Pata Honda in 2015 the 2014 World Cham- pion Sylvain Guintoli only scored a single podium. It was clearly a tough year, but it looks like it could be a top level 2016. The new Pata Ya- maha effort, the base of Yamaha's return to real World Superbike action, has picked up the pace early after their very first test together at the Jerez circuit in early November. Guintoli was instantly impressed by his new bike, like his teammate Alex Lowes had been. "For us it was a proper first go with the new bike and we were maybe expecting some teething problems, but it was great," said the English- resident Frenchman. "The bike ran really well and most importantly it felt that we have a re- ally good base to work with. You just know right away when you have a bike that has potential. Straight out of the box, and with loads of com- pletely standard parts, it was actually surprisingly fast. It felt really good and really positive." When asked for specifics the always erudite and expressive Guintoli stated, "A bike is 'well-born' or not. This is definitely a well-born bike. It takes you like three corners to get that feeling of it being well born. It was exciting." Both Lowes and he gave the same feedback on the new bike, but the 2014 champion would not be drawn into specif- ics yet. "Now we have to fine-tune this good base that we have got because unfortunately to be competitive in World Superbike you have to look at every single little detail," he said. "That is what I am trying to do; give the best feedback to the team and to Yamaha to understand where we can gain some time. Our plan is to, step by step, turn this good base into a racing animal. We have a lot of laps and feed- back from Jerez and now we will have a very differ- ent test track in Aragon, where we can stretch the legs a bit." From the outside, Yamaha seems to be coming back big-time, not small-time, with their latest creation. Guintoli agreed. "Definitely," was his emphatic answer, before continuing on the theme. "The objective is to win. That is what we want to do and Yamaha is committed to this. We all want together to win some races. The project is really interesting. Not only because the new R1 has got great potential but because of the involvement and he mo- tivation from the Yamaha side. We definitely want to make it work. The sooner the better." Alex Lowes was immediately on the pace with his new machine. 2016 will see Guintoli on his third different machine in three years. Guintoli is already looking like the rider who took a world title two years ago on the new Yamaha.