Sylvain Guintoli left Donington Park on Sunday night with two eighth place finishes in his pocket, having trialled several new components at the UK Round.

“It was a weekend to assess quite a lot of new parts and there are some good points to take from it,” explained the 2014 World Champion. “In the second part of the lap we were doing some good times and we gained stability under braking. We managed to be quite fast there so that’s good, but there are still areas where we struggled.”

Pleased with the improvement in his Pata Honda World Superbike Team bike towards the end of races, the Frenchman confirmed that he will continue in this new direction.

“The front-runners were quite a long way from us, but we have to keep fighting and keep improving the package for the rest of the season,” Guintoli began to sum up. “We’ll keep the new frame and swingarm for Portimao to develop it more there.”

After the first of the two Portimao races on Sunday 7 June, the 2015 eni FIM Superbike World Championship campaign will meet its halfway point.