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MotoGP, Guintoli to ride Rins' Suzuki at Le Mans

Alex is still on the sidelines after suffering injury at Austin. Sylvain will test the GSX-RR on Tuesday at Jerez

MotoGP: Guintoli to ride Rins' Suzuki at Le Mans

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Alex Rins is forced to sit out the racing for a period of between 6 and 8 weeks after injuring his left wrist at Austin and undergoing surgery. Test rider Tsuda will ride his Suzuki at Jerez while Sylvain Guintoli has been chosen to stand in for the Spaniard at the French Grand Prix.

The Frenchman, currently riding in the British SBK championship, will thus return to MotoGP for what it his home round. Sylvain hasn't raced in the category since 2011, when he competed in German, while his last complete season was in 2008.

Guintoli will have chance to build confidence with the GSX-RR on Tuesday during a test day at Jerez.

For us it’s a good opportunity to be able to substitute Alex with Sylvain, who is a rider with strong and solid experience in racing, both in Superbike and MotoGP - said team manager Davide Brivio - He is already racing for Suzuki in the British Superbike Championship, so he is already part of the Suzuki family. With him we will try to carry on with the development of our GSX-RR. We hope that Alex returns very soon, in the meantime, we’ll try to fully take advantage of these races. I want to give a warm welcome to Sylvain from our team, and all we ask from him is to enjoy his time with us and make the most of this opportunity.”

Guintoli added: "First, I would like to thank Suzuki for giving me this fantastic opportunity. Being able to ride the GSX-RR, currently one of the fastest racing machine in the world is a very exciting prospect, let alone at my home race in front of the French fans. The ‘Le Mans Grand Prix’ brings back a lot of strong memories, the best one of course was leading the MotoGP race for a few laps in 2007. This is going to be a very difficult challenge, adapting to the very powerful prototype MotoGP machine and the Michelin tires, but my main goal is to enjoy the experience and give 100%. The test on Tuesday will give us some time to adapt and to start understanding this amazing motorcycle. Finally, I want to wish a very good recovery to Alex." 

Translated by Heather Watson
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