Sylvain Guintoli returned to action at Round 10 of the 2016 FIM MOTUL World Superbike Championship on Friday, as he made a comeback from injury at Lausitzring. After a heavy high side crash during qualifying at Imola at the end of April Guintoli was left with a broken ankle, which has kept him out of action for several months.

After getting back on his YZF-R1 the 34-year-old Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team rider looked good as he registered a 1'37.753 best time to end the day a respectable sixth on the timesheets. Guintoli commented: “It’s great to be back! I was a bit worried having not been on the bike competitively for almost five months. So it was a good first day back, a solid day. We are in a good position so I am happy and my feeling with the bike is good. I really enjoyed riding the bike today.

The French rider added, “It was good for track knowledge because I didn’t know the track, but today we went a lot faster than in the test. The test here for me was really a shakedown, I didn’t try to go fast then, but today I really pushed myself a lot more and I think it is working.”