The French Round has been a perfect one for the Aprilia Racing Team, who dominated the race day at Magny-Cours with a double one-two that significantly improved the chances of Guintoli to take the title. The Frenchman, who won race 1 and was second in the following encounter, is now 12 points shy of series leader Tom Sykes. The battle for the title is now as close as it has ever been this second half of the season. Melandri, courtesy of his race 2 win and the second place in the previous encounter, elevated himself to third place in the standings and will be looking for more success in the final round of the season, taking place in a month’s time at Losail, Qatar.

Sylvain Guintoli: “This was a great weekend for the Team. We are definitely back in the running for the Championship. When I saw the weather forecast yesterday evening I immediately thought that this would be a good opportunity to get some important points. I took a few risks at the beginning of the races and then, once I had created a good gap, I concentrated on staying focused to avoid any pointless risks and to take home the best possible result. I'm very happy but I am already thinking about Qatar, where the championship will be decided. It is a track that I know well and that I like and I think it will suit the RSV4 well. I wish we were racing tomorrow!”

Marco Melandri: “Today we did a great job. The bike was fantastic and I was able to confirm my performance in Jerez. Sylvain was very fast and in the first laps it was difficult to overtake, but we created a good gap in front of our rivals straight way. The win in Race 2 is fair compensation for my efforts and those of the Team, and on top of that it put me in third place in the standings. I have demonstrated a good pace from the halfway point of the season, so now we'll see how things go in Qatar”.