Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli is definitely in fighting spirit as he prepares for the World Superbike qualifying session at the Losail circuit in Qatar. Under the floodlights last night he was consistently setting quick lap times and was never outside the top five fastest times.

But the Frenchman believes he still has more to give and thinks he has some extra pace to be competitive today and Sunday. He is only 12 points behind the reigning champ, Tom Sykes in the title standings and is not giving up on the battle.

Guintoli finished ahead of Sykes throughout all three free practice sessions, and the England-based rider wants it to stay that way during the double-header and finale tomorrow.

“This was a very good day for us, but also rather tiring given the weather and the three sessions. We always do it, but this time in particular we focused a lot on race pace and tyre life which is a critical factor on this track,” said Guintoli.

“The results have been very positive but obviously we still have a few aces up our sleeve that we want to test. We will need to manage the RSV4's power well, unleashing it where it is needed and reining it in where we risk abusing the tyres too much. Skids and drifting are great for the show and for thrills, but not for race pace.”