SBK, Imola, Guintoli: "Strange crash, we don't know what happened"

Sylvain Guintoli's Imola weekend was unfortunately over before it began. The factory Yamaha Pata SBK rider suffered a nasty highside at the Acque Minerali during yesterday’s Superpole session. The rider was taken to the medical centre and then, during the evening, to hospital in Bologna for further tests. For now he has a confirmed fracture of the malleolus on his left foot.

The cause of the crash is still to be established: "It was a strange crash. We still haven’t understood the reasons for it” said the Frenchman, present at the track before Race 2.

Did the electronics suffer a spontaneous malfunction perhaps?: "We don’t know for sure. Of course we want to understand why it happened because crashes like that shouldn’t happen. We’ll check the electronics and will perhaps have more idea. But for now we can’t say.”

As to whether he’ll race at Sepang, no decision can be made at this time. The CAT scan did not show anything but further medical checks are needed. “We’ll do some in depth tests in the UK to understand whether I can race at Sepang or not. It will depend on the outcome of those tests.”

For now the diagnosis is a fractured malleolus. “Yes, that’s the problem, but we need to see if there’s anything else.”