Source: Supplied.

The 2014 World Superbike champion Sylvain Guintoli has signed an agreement to ride for the Pata Honda team alongside Michael van der Mark in the 2015 championship aboard Honda’s CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machine.

Guintoli is one of the most widely experienced riders in the WSBK paddock and won the 2014 title in Sunday’s final round at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar. The French rider, who lives in the UK with his English wife Caroline and their four children, has also ridden at the highest level in MotoGP.

The 32-year-old has a total of nine World Superbike wins to his credit, five of which have come this season: at Phillip Island in Australia, Assen in the Netherlands, his home round of Magny-Cours in France last month, and a double race win in Qatar yesterday to end the season in some style. He boasts a total of 40 WSBK podium finishes.

“The events of this season and especially last night are still buzzing in my head, but I’m delighted to be joining the Honda family and to be reuniting with Pata,” Guintoli said. “The last time we worked together was a very unexpected but successful partnership. I brought Pata their first victories and we have a strong relationship.

“I’m looking forward to tackling this new challenge and I can’t wait to get going. Johnny [Rea] has obviously been strong on the Honda all season, and sometimes he’s been very strong! So I think there is definitely a big potential with the bike and I think the new rules for next year will suit it.

“So for us this is good news and I can’t wait to understand how it works; but it looks like a really good package and I’m looking forward to getting the first impressions soon.”

Although the 2015 season will be Guintoli’s first ride for Honda, he has a strong historical relationship with the team’s title partner Pata, having ridden for a Pata-sponsored Ducati team in 2012, taking two race victories to finish seventh that season in the World Superbike standings.

The announcement of Guintoli’s appointment to the Pata Honda World Superbike team and his new partnership with 2014 World Supersport champion, Michael van der Mark, means that the team will bid farewell to both Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam.

Rea will instead partner former champion Tom Sykes at Kawasaki Racing Team, while Haslam’s future remains unconfirmed.

British rider Rea, 27, is no stranger to the Superbike World Championship class having made 140 race starts and taken 15 victories since his first full season of participation in 2009.

Rea has scored four race wins in the recently competed 2014 championship season and his addition to the squad alongside 2013 champion Sykes demonstrates the strong commitment Kawasaki and the KRT squad have to regaining the championship in 2015. KRT now has two of the top three riders in the 2014 championship signed up for 2015.

KRT will start their drive to regain the title when they begin their heavy testing schedule this month in Spain.

Sykes’ 2014 teammate Loris Baz has defected to MotoGP for next season, signing to join Stefan Bradl in the Forward Racing Yamaha satellite squad.