Former WSBK champ wants to win 24H Le Mans in a car

Sylvain Guintoli wants to be the first to win both car and motorcycle title at 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 24 Hours of Le Mans race is one of the most prestigious motorsport events in the world since it began in 1923. Racing through day and night, drivers and riders must battle fatigue, changing weather conditions, and the unforgiving Circuit de la Sarthe.

For former Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) rider and champion, Sylvain Guintoli, winning the Le Mans on a motorcycle is good, but winning it onboard a car would be a whole new level of achievement.

“I want to try to be the first person in history to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans on both motorcycles and cars. This is now my challenge,” said Guintoli.

Guintoli is no stranger to top-rank racing. Aside from being WSBK’s champion in 2014, he also spent 5 years with the Suzuki MotoGP team and was very instrumental with Hamamatsu’s 2020 campaign which concluded with a MotoGP title with rider Joan Mir. Guintoli also won back-to-back 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2021 and 2022, racing for team Suzuki Yoshimura SERT Motul.

Also in 2022, Guintoli tried his skills racing 4 wheels at Silverstone, onboard a Volkswagen Golf TCR.

“I think it would be an amazing story if we could do it. If you don’t dream big, you don’t achieve anything big,” added the 41-year-old Frenchman who is showing no signs of slowing down.

To achieve this goal, the first step is to gain experience and spend more “saddle time” onboard race cars. “So, this is what I’m doing now: I’m racing as many cars as I can to get better, get faster,” added the Frenchman.

When asked which car category, Guintoli simply replied that there is no specific category but the idea is to enter the GT3 next year or in 2025 after the new regulations have taken effect. For this reason and to help Guintoli with his goal, the team has partnered with Radical – an OEM with whom Motul has a partnership. “We are working together on this idea. For me, it’s a great way to learn because I’m racing with a proper race car in a proper race series with a very high level of competition. And then for Radical and Motul, it’s a good way to show the OEM partnership.”

Though currently, there is no exact date or year when Guintoli will formally attempt to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a car, rest assured we will be there to break the news for you!