Following the confirmation that Michael van der Mark will partner Alex Lowes at the Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team next year, Sylvain Guintoli is left seeking a ride ahead of the 2017 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season.

Guintoli, who gloriously lifted the crown with Aprilia in 2014, has been out of action since his Imola crash in late April 2016, but will return in Germany next month.

“At the minute, there is nothing decided,” Frenchman Guintoli tells WorldSBK.com. “I had a one-year contract with Yamaha. I’m looking at options right now but nothing is decided. My biggest wish is to stay in World Superbike and have a competitive ride. If I can’t get a competitive ride, we’ll see, but that is what I am working on.

“You have to take it step-by-step. That is my first goal. There are still a few competitive bikes available, but not many. There are a lot of British riders in this championship; I think it’s good to have a lot of different nations at the front, so I could do with a good bike [laughs]! It would be good for the championship.”

The 34-year-old stresses that there are no doubts over motivation or competitiveness.

“I am riding well,” he continues. “Since I won the title I have ridden well, including last year with some tough competition from my team-mate Mikey (van der Mark), but I still beat him in the championship. This year I was riding really well until the accident, so by the end of this year I hope to take things back to where I left them and rebuild my speed. For next year I really, really would like to have a competitive bike so I can be at the front, dicing with the Kawasakis and Ducatis.”

Guintoli has four more rounds and a total of eight races remaining before he departs Yamaha, including his home meeting at Magny-Cours where he clinched his only podium of the 2015 campaign while riding on Honda machinery.