Sylvain Guintoli celebrates WSBK leadership with announcement, Laverty suffers bad luck at Aragon

from Twowheelsblog

If someone had told Sylvain Guintoli on Sunday morning during warm-up practice that he would take home two podium finishes in today’s second round of the season, despite struggling all weekend long at the Aragon circuit, especially compared to his Aprilia team mate, he would have probably shrugged his shoulders in a very French way and have said ‘tu es folle.’

Instead the French rider not only scored two second podiums, he also gained the lead in the championship, going on the podium in both rounds - he has one win and three second places - and leads the series with 85 points, which he celebrated by announcing the arrival of his fourth child - he has three little girls already.

In the first race I was a bit worried because I was really struggling, as I had been throughout the weekend. Aragon is perhaps my most dreaded track, so two second places are a really great result. I must thank the Aprilia Team, the engineers and my crew chief, Aligi Deganello, because thanks to them I was able to ride very well in Race 2. The changes we kept making to the RSV4 worked as they should have even if Chaz was really impossible to beat. I’m going to Assen with a lot of confidence. The results today are a perfect way to announce the arrival of my fourth child!” said the Frenchman.

Eugene Laverty was tipped to win at least one race in the Aragon round, having shown a strong pace in all the practice and qualifying sessions and during Superpole, however the Aprilia rider left Spain with two very disappointing DNF’s.

One was due to a technical issue, caused by a mechanical breakdown of the exhaust valve motor that cut the power on his Aprilia forcing him to retire, and in race two, a cold rear tire in the opening lap caused him to crash. Despite the double DNF Laverty is currently third in the standings - 40 points adrift from his team mate.

“Race 1 was truly disappointing. I was in the lead and had a good pace, but I had already noticed that something wasn’t working properly on the bike. I had to stop in the pits which cost me 6 laps, but I knew I could make a comeback in Race 2. Instead, the double starting procedure created some problems for me because the tyres cooled off a bit. In fact I lost the rear first and then the front which caused me to crash. It definitely wasn’t the perfect Sunday, but there is still plenty of championship left and I’m encouraged by the fact that I had all the prerequisites, hard luck permitting, to aim for a good result here too”, said Laverty.