Guintoli ready to challenge in 2012
Sylvain Guintoli of the Effenbert-Liberty Racing Ducati team says he is looking forward to picking up in 2012 where he left off in 2011.
The Frenchman who finished the season strongly, after a bad spill in the opening race of 2011 at Phillip Island round had initially set him back until mid-season, said he thought 2012 would be a big season for the team.
"I'm excited, because now I have one year of experience on the bike and I am very confident we can achieve some good results next year," he told the officla SBK site.
Reflecting on 2011 he commented on the Phillip Island accident which left him injured and low on confidence. "It worked out very well in Phillip Island because we were very quick in all practice sessions and in Superpole we never left the top three.
"Then I had a big crash in race one, I hurt myself a lot, broke my arm, broke my ankle and damaged my knee ligaments.
"After that, even though I didn't miss any races, I was far from being fit and it was a big of a struggle.
"Near the end of the season I got my confidence and my physical strength back, and I think in the last ten races I was always in the top seven. We got on the podium three times and in Portimão we almost won.
"So all in all it was a good season, despite the big crash at the start of it and the long recovery."