Tech 3 boss backs Guintoli's approach

Rookie Guintoli charged through from 11th to briefly lead the race as drizzle fell in the early laps, but then crashed while running second on lap seven.

He was able to rejoin on his spare bike on rain tyres as the GP had been declared a wet race, and eventually finished 10th.

"On the grid Sylvain asked me if I would mind if he led a lap," said Poncheral.

"He said he was just going to carve through things... In fact he said he was going to be the man in the slaughterhouse, the 'boucherie' as we say in French!

"When he leading, I was just waiting for the crash to happen, but I am happy for him to lead rather than just finish in a boring position."

Poncheral said he was extremely satisfied with the speed Guintoli and Tech 3 had shown at Le Mans.

"I'm very happy this weekend," he said. "We had provisional pole yesterday for a bit, then we were 11th, just 0.8 seconds off the pole. Warm-up this morning was great as we were seventh and leading Yamaha."

Guintoli said he had no regrets about his hard-charging performance.

"It felt good out there - more than that in fact," he said. "I had the speed to fight through from the back, but I wanted to go further and further through, but then I found I was at the front with no-one else to pass!

"Leading was great, but to pass Valentino Rossi was pretty special. I have to admit I had a little smile to myself, a little chuckle. I then just told myself to find a rhythm."

The French rookie had moved up the order in tandem with his compatriot Randy de Puniet, who would also crash shortly after Guintoli's error.
 
"Randy was going very well; he was taking some risks, and eventually fell," said Guintoli.

"The gap between falling and staying on is hardly anything when (the weather) is like that."