2014 World Superbike champion Sylvain Guintoli will wildcard at the Jerez and Qatar rounds with Puccetti, while Ant West will move over to the World Supersport team.
Guintoli left WorldSBK after a tough year on the Pata Yamaha in 2016 to join the Bennetts Suzuki outfit in British Superbikes this season. Despite a largely difficult return to BSB, the Frenchman still managed a win at Assen and finished 13th in the standings.
As the 2017 season wore on, rumours of Guintoli – who also contested three MotoGP rounds with Suzuki as well as numerous test days – making a return to WorldSBK next year with Puccetti Kawasaki gathered momentum, and he was linked with a wildcard in the final two rounds.
“I am very happy to be able to return to the MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship for the last two rounds of the season,” the 35–year–old said.
“Jerez and Doha are two fantastic tracks, of which I have beautiful memories of past years.
“I cannot wait to try the Kawasaki ZX–10RR and I want to thank Manuel (Puccetti, team boss) and Kawasaki for this great opportunity.”
Guintoli will replace Ant West, who was signed up to finish the season with Puccetti from Portugal after Randy Krummenacher withdrew with a wrist injury, but has been drafted in to replace Kyle Ryde in the WorldSSP team, who left the team following the Magny-Cours round.
BSB vice–champion Leon Haslam was set to ride alongside West as the injured Kenan Sofuoglu’s replacement in the final two rounds, but suffered a broken ankle, wrist and thumb in a fast crash at Brands Hatch during the season finale last weekend.
Instead Sofuoglu – who suffered fractures to his hip in a crash during qualifying at Magny–Cours – will be replaced by former Speed Up Moto2 rider Axel Bassani.
Puccetti team boss Manuel Puccetti expressed his delight at gaining a rider of Guintoli‘s calibre for the final two rounds, while set out targets of top fives for West and Bassani as still has his eyes fixed on the WorldSSP teams’ title.
“We are very happy to have a top rider like Sylvain riding our bike for the final 2017 rounds,” he said.
“Guintoli is a strong rider with several seasons in MotoGP. His experience will be important to continue the team’s growth.
“In Supersport, unfortunately the rider’s championship is almost impossible to win, but we aren’t giving up on the team championship.
“The objective of (Michael) Canducci, Bassani and West will be to finish the race in the top five.”
Earlier in the year Suzuki team boss Davide Brivio said Guintoli riding for a different manufacturer in another series would not be a barrier in the Frenchman keeping his role as a MotoGP test rider for the Japanese manufacturer.
