WSBK News: Sylvain Guintoli Terminates Liberty Racing Contract Amidst Effenbert Woes

By Jared Earle | Thu, 19/07/2012 - 12:06

According to Sylvain Guintoli, he no longer has a contract to ride for Liberty Racing CZ. Coupled with rumours of Effenbert not having any hospitality at their home round in Brno, this paints an unhappy picture of the team. Guintoli released the following statement on Twitter:

“Liberty CZ Group had contracted to have Sylvain Guintoli ride for them with the Superbike World Championship 2012. Liberty have confirmed they are unable to provide a bike for Sylvain Guintoli to race at Brno and potentially in the future. Due to this and a failure of Liberty to fulfil other key aspects of the contract, there has been no option but for Sylvain to accept that the contract has to be terminated and notice has formally been given to Liberty that the contract is terminated immediately. Sylvain Guintoli, who had fulfilled all of his obligations is disappointed with Liberty’s difficulties and their inability to provide a bike for him at Brno but is now free to take up other rides with immediate effect”.

World Superbikes
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Sylvain Guintoli
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Comments

BennyHedgehog
11 years 2 months ago
Permalink

... post Monza when the Liberty Team Effenbert Ducati dream finally exploded in a very public fashion

From factory-supported Ducati 2 rider Panigale Superstock effort - to nothing.

From factory-supported Ducati 4 rider 1198 WSBK effort - to just 2 (Smrz & some French guy).

No (much vaunted Effenbert hospitality) presence at the post-Monza British round.

And now, non-payment of wages to their team-leader Sylvain Guintoli which causes him to walk.

All good for Brno then .... it's my round.

What on earth is going on here David? Can't think of a better ambassador for your team that Sylvan; and he won a race earlier this year.On top of the post Monza nonsense this is starting to look ridiculous.

Hope Sylvan finds another really good bike.

It's Jared, not David. smiley As for what's going on, we'll just have to wait and see. This isn't a normal state of affairs, and there are unsubstiantiated rumours of all sorts flying around. 

Wait and see. Hopefully we shall get some clarity soon.

Jared, of course sorry.

This is of concern because this team puts proper bikes on the grid, sometimes 3 or 4. The economic woes of the world are certainly detrimental to racing (no surpise there), but this lot seem to be getting a bit cranky this year!

Sylvan just doesn't appear to be the type that 'spits his dummy out' over nothing.

We shall see...

How about Guintoli riding Karol Abraham's bike in GP's if the latter is going to be missing a few races through injury?

Wow.. didn't see that one coming. I really hope Sylvan finds a quality ride quickly.

This is a perfect example of where my (currently fictional) team would jump all over this and sign him up.

Sylvan seems to have acted correctly and it can only be inferred from the speed at which this seems to have happened that he has seen (other than not being paid and not having a bike to ride) aspects of the team operation that make him feel his only option was elsewhere. A shame, as he has had some good perfromances on this bike and I thought he had struck lucky with a seemingly well-run and well-financed team.........
As for Effin and Blert - what a liberty they seem to be taking with their press release. It would help a better understanding of their message if it was translated by someone who could write for an english-speaking audience but the overt criticism of Sylvan is outrageous (IMO).
Will not be drinking that brand again, if this is how they treat their people. Sylvan is the high profile loser here, but it seems there are a few other team members who have not been paid either, judging from the other stories.
Not the first or the last time for this type of thing to happen in the sport unfortunately.

didn't pay the mechanics; this is from Crash.net.

"
Liberty Racing have since responded, confirming Guintoli's departure and adding that the decision by several members of the technical crew not to travel to Brno left him without sufficient technical support to compete. As such, Guintoli responded by quitting with immediate effect.

“The Liberty Racing Team would like to inform with regret that despite its will, an unsolvable break born from a misunderstanding between the mechanics and the administrative management of the team, revealed a bitter surprise at the arrival to the Brno Circuit.

“In fact several men of the technical crew have decided not to participate to the Czech Republic Grand Prix and to the rest of the championship. This defection sadly involves the French Rider Sylvain Guintoli who, without the technical support, does not take part to the race that is held in Brno this weekend.”

http://www.crash.net/world+superbikes/news/182069/1/liberty_explains_re…

But now they shift the blame...............

Infront and Ducati were working on a solution, he could have ridden a second Ducati Pata at Brno (commercial patches were being removed from his leathers) but he's looking for a stable solution for the rest of the year.
We could either see him on a private Ducati or on a Crescent Suzuki (they know his value from his BSB season with them).
As for the latest Liberty statement that they got rid of him because of poor results and such (1st ever pole and win for the team, 3 podiums...), he received it on his smartphone at the same time as the journos, the thing is that at his moment he was eating in Liberty hospitality. It was a complete surprise for him, he got up, said what he had to say to the team manager and left the hospitality. Sylvain is howing a lot of class in these difficult times, good luck!