Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli is one happy rider going into the two World Superbike races at Sepang tomorrow. The Frenchman bagged the pole position this morning and once again proved to be the rider to beat.

With the fastest lap of the weekend so far Guintoli put the best time on the boards and for the fourth time in his career, he will be starting in front of all the rest. The Leicestershire-based rider took to the track at the beginning of the session on a race tyre, stopping the clock at an impressive time of 2’03.581 and immediately taking a solid lead.

After returning to the pits to put on a qualifier, he further improved his performance with 2’03.002. The speed demonstrated in Superpole is in line with his performance in the practice sessions - three out of four times the French rider has been the fastest out on the Malaysian circuit, so far this race weekend.

“This has been an almost perfect weekend so far even if the results tomorrow are the ones that really count. I have trained well, preparing for the high heat, and I actually feel better on a race tyre than on a qualifier,” said Guintoli.

“I’m very happy with how well the RSV4 is performing here – we are really able to take full advantage of it. I’m having fun riding and the two races tomorrow will definitely be hard but I can’t wait to get on the track”.

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