Professional motorcycle racing and sports medicine now go hand and hand and World Superbike team Effenbert Liberty Racing had riders Jakub Smrz, Sylvain Guintoli and newly signed Maxime Berger undergo a complete physical at the “Medicina dello Sport degli Ospedali Riuniti di Bergamo,” in order to see the athletic, physical, and mental state of their riders and then prepare a specific training program for each of them.

The idea came from the Liberty Group CZs CEO, Mario Bertuccio who said it was his pet project of his: “This is a project to which I am particularly fond of. Infact I can’t deny that everything that I and the team do is based on obtaining the maximum potential, without neglecting any detail, because these details have their importance, and I don’t want to underestimate anything. The Medical Check Up Program has been tailored to the Effenbert Team so we carefully follow the preparation of our riders in the terms of athletic preparation I would like to thank the specialists for supporting us and I also appreciate the availability of our riders. We have confidence in them and they in us, this is the best basis for our interaction together. Our aim is to maintain excellent team work, both on and off the track.”

The three riders underwent a battery of tests under the supervision of doctors Fabio Lorenzelli, Giacomo Poggioli, Professor Matteo Arzuffi and the Effenbert project coordinator Emmanuele Airoli.

“So far our riders have done their training with a methodical but general preparation, and following indications that were certainly adequate, but not specific,” said Arioli. “Obviously this is an good starting point, but our team wanted to do something more for them, that is, to manage their training in a more targeted way and set up to their individual physiological needs. The tests that were performed have given us a general framework. With the support of the medical team and the different findings, each rider can start to work on their particular characteristics which will be reprogrammed in various steps.”

Continue reading: Effenbert Liberty WSBK team gets medical check-up and training programme

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French rider Sylvain Guintoli has renewed with Effenberty Liberty Racing team for the 2012 World Superbike season.

Despite having carried fractures to his hand and ankle picked up at the start of the year at Phillip Island and diagnosed only after the Donington round, Guintoli finished the season on a high note at Portimao with a stunning second place in race 1, which brought him to sixth in the final championship standings.

The Effenbert Liberty rider also got a chance to ride a Ducati GP again this year, when he replaced Pramac Ducati’s injured Loris Capirossi at Sachsenring.

“I am very happy to stay in the Effenbert Liberty Racing Team , I felt very well both from the technical and from the human point of view and now I have developed a very good feeling with the Ducati that suits my riding style well and is giving me great satisfactions. I am very motivated and am sure that next year we will improve. It will be a great season! “ said Guintoli.

Effenbert Liberty has yet to announce if they will be fielding another two Ducati’s in 2012, as it was rumored during silly season.

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Loris Capirossi attempted a return to action during this morning’s free practice at Sachsenring after sustaining rib and shoulder injuries during qualifying at the Assen GP, and after testing his physical condition and finishing last and 3.5 seconds off pace, has decided to pull out the German GP.

The Pramac rider, who is expected to make an announcement regarding whether he’ll retire or not at the Brno round in mid-August, will be substituted by Sylvain Guintoli, who was already on standby in the event that Capirex couldn’t ride, despite the Italian’s “only I ride my Desmosedici” words.

Guintoli, who was a Pramac rider back in 2008 before turning to Superbikes, has already tested the Ducati GP11 during the official MotoGP tests at Mugello on July 4th, where he refreshed his knowledge of MotoGP machine and finished five seconds from Casey Stoner during the test.

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Loris Capirossi will be making an ahead of schedule return to take part in the upcoming German GP at Sachsenring, despite not being totally fit.

The Italian rider missed the Assen and Mugello races after sustaining rib and shoulder injuries during qualifying at Assen, and was expected to also miss the Sachsenring and Laguna Seca rounds after Pramac Ducati announced that they were going to field Superbike rider Sylvain Guintoli as his replacement rider and even giving their former rider an opportunity to test the GP11 during the official MotoGP tests at Mugello last Monday.

“I feel better, but my physical condition is still not acceptable,” said Capirex. “I’m doing daily physical therapy sessions at the medical center IM2S of Monaco. I already missed two races, that Mugello the most important for me. I want to ride my bike as soon as possible.”

Capirossi will still have to pass the medical commission’s physical and if he’ll actually be able to ride remains to be seen, so Guintoli will probably remain on standby.

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Yesterday’s MotoGP test at the Mugello didn’t leave Pramac Ducati’s Randy de Puniet very satisfied, despite the fact that with his best time of 1:49.384, he was almost one second faster than his best lap during the actual race. The French rider, who many thought could master the Ducati due to his rather loose and aggressive riding style is currently only 17th in the standings and yesterday compared his current Desmosedici chassis against the updated ‘step 1’ version.

Here’s what De Puniet after the test, “I turned a lot today, after yesterday’s race there was a lot problems. At the end I can’t be satisfied, the others riders are always faster than me.We made some progress on the bike used in this weekend, but not enough”.

Sylvain Guintoli who is to be Loris Capirossi’s replacement rider in case the Italian can’t be ready in time for the Sachsenring round, got reacquainted with the Ducati GP11; his last time on a Ducati prototype was back in 2008. The WSBK rider ended his day three seconds slower than Randy de Puniet and five seconds off pace from Casey Stoner, and just slightly faster than Moto2 rider Andrea Iannone who put in a few laps to get a feel of what it’s like to ride a MotoGP machine and even ran off track at the San Donato on his first lap out.

Continue reading: Pramac Ducati talks about Mugello test

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Pramac Ducati has confirmed that WSBK rider Sylvain Guintoli will be testing for the team at Mugello tomorrow (which will not see any 2012 factory bike testing) in the event that Loris Capirossi is unable to recover from his injuries in time for the upcoming Sachsenring and Laguna Seca rounds, and they’ve also announced that Andrea Iannone will also be getting a chance to test the GP11 tomorrow.

Ducati has often allowed lower class riders to test their GP bikes in order to get a taste of MotoGP (while checking them out as potential material), and since Iannone is expected to make the big switch to the premier class with his own CRT team next season, the test will give him some interesting comparisons to make with his future bike.

“I’m sorry that Loris wasn’t able to be with us this weekend at Mugello. Sylvain Guintoli, an old acquaintance of the Pramac Racing Team, will take his place tomorrow,” said Pramac boss, Paolo Campinoti. “The test will help Sylvain in case Capirex isn’t recovered in time to race at the Sachsenring or Laguna Seca, but we’re hopeful that Loris will return soon.We’re also pleased to welcome Andrea Iannone, who will test our bike in order to get used to the MotoGP class.”

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With Loris Capirossi out of action after breaking a couple of ribs and picking up a distorted shoulder after his highside crash during qualifying at Assen and is expected to miss at least the upcoming Sachsenring GP, Pramac Ducati will need a replacement rider and the choice seems to have fallen on Sylvain Guintoli, who will be getting a private test on the GP11 before the Sachsenring GP, July 17th.

Guintoli is former MotoGP rider who raced for the Pramac team back in 2008 and currently rides in the World Superbike championship with the Effenbert Liberty Ducati squad, and took a third place podium during race 1 at Miller Motorsports Park at the end of May.

The two French riders were once team mates in d’Equipe de France Vitesse, and Randy de Puniet when he heard that his fellow country man will be fielded next to him said: “It’ll be fun to get together after 10 years when we were in the SCRAB team, and it will be quite nice for him, although he’ll have 4 races between GP and Superbikes. He’ll also give a look and a new opinion on this bike.”

Source | motosblog.fr

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As widely predicted Carlos Checa easily won Race 1 at Miller Motorsports Park. Starting in pole position the Althea Ducati rider dropped to fifth on the opening lap, but the surgically picked off his opponents one at a time to then overtake front runner Troy Corser on the sixth lap and from that point on there was no longer any doubt in any one’s mind that the Spaniard would take his Ducati to the top spot of the podium.

Checa not only won in his impressive style he also lead a Ducati 1-2-3 podium, with Effenbert-Liberty’s Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli taking the final two spots on the podium confirming their fast pace shown during Sunday’s Superpole and that the twins were able to conserve much better their Pirelli tires than the rest of the field, especially in the latter stages of the race.

Leon Camier took the fourth spot after an error cost him at least a fight for the podium, while team mate and reigning World Champion Max Biaggi got mixed up with Jonathan Rea on lap two and both crashed out. Biaggi would later blame Rea for the crash and Honda’s Carlo Fiorani speaking for his rider said it was Biaggi’s fault for cutting the Castrol Honda rider off. Unfortunately the cameras only caught the two arguing off track covered in mud, with Rea much more upset than the Roman Emperor.

Continue reading: WSBK MMP: Carlos Checa wins Race 1 with an all Ducati podium

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Effenbert-Liberty’s Sylvain Guintoli has had rough start to his 2011 season. The French rider crashed out during race 1 at Phillip Island and didn’t ride in race 2, but reports at that time said he wasn’t suffering from any serious injuries or broken bones.

At the Donington round, Guintoli scored two 11th place finishes despite carrying some pain issues which prompted him to undergo further medical examinations, which revealed that he had a double fracture to his hand and one to his ankle.

“I spent all of Monday trying to find out why I had so much pain during the weekend in Donington. After some more X-rays and an MRI scan in Manchester, these are the conclusions of my doctors in UK. There are two fractures on my hand, one of which is quite bad. Fortunately, the bones have not moved and I should get better and better without surgery. There is also a fracture on my ankle that is not healed and is at risk of non-union. The bones have not moved.

“This means I will have to wear a support for 10 days and get some rest. More exams will be made after the Assen race to make a decision about surgery or not.”

Source | liberty-racing.com

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World Superbike newbie team Liberty Racing has concluded a private two day test session at the Spanish circuit of Gaudix. Jakub Smrz spent the test familiarizing himself with the upgraded electronics on his Ducati 1198 F10, while French rider Sylvain Guintoli got his first taste of the Ducati Superbike

The first day of testing was interrupted by fog and cold temperatures and dirty circuit, but the two riders were able to put in about 50 laps during the afternoon session on the 3,5 km track and on the second day the both completed a full day’s work posting the same identical lap time of 1.14s.

“The track today was all right, it was my first ride on a Ducati and the first impression was very good, both the team and the bike. Today we went with the basic setup on the Ducati and after my surgery, it was a great feeling to sit on a motorcycle once again,” said Guintoli.

Liberty Racing will be back in action for the official tests that take place January 26th to 28th at Portimao.

Source | liberty-racing.com via motosblog.fr

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New World Superbike team Liberty Racing will be at Guadix circuit in Spain, next week for pre-season testing.

The Czech Republic based team fielding Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli, with French rider getting his first taste of the Ducati 1198, even if he recently underwent minor surgery to remove a screw in his leg from a previous injury (must have been the injury caused by Josh Brookes at Donington Park back in 2009).

Guintoli’s most recent racing success was at the 8 Hours of Doha, where the SERT team he was riding for not only won the race, but also the 2010 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship title.

Source | bikeracing.it

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Last Thursday at the Hard Rock Cafè in Prague, Liberty Racing, the new Czech based team that will contest next season in the World Superbike Championship, gave it’s official launch party.

Fielding Jakub Smrz and Sylvain Guintoli and run by Natale Egi, the team backed by Liberty CZ Group with title sponsor, Czech beer maker Effenbert, threw a big party that included Miss 2009 Czech Republic Iveta Lutovska, and 2008 winner Eliska Buckova.

The new team will have an experienced staff that includes techs and engineers from Ducati and Ferrari and will have Ducati official technical support and will be using the upgraded versions of the former factory team’s Ducati 1198 F10’s and will be at Portimao for testing at the end of January.

Source | buongiornoslovacchia.sk

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