It would be quite the understatement to say that Chaz Davies’ (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) season has not gone to plan so far. The Panigale V4 R’s learning curve has been steeper for the three-time MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship runner-up than for his teammate, and when pace has not been an issue bad luck has, particularly in the last two rounds.

Developing new machinery can be a tricky process. Time-consuming and often frustrating, it is nonetheless a matter of time before the pieces fall into place, something which is keeping Davies in good spirits ahead of Round Seven.

“We put together a great weekend in Imola. Unfortunately, the end-result didn’t show the full potential, but it was still really good that weekend”, the 32-year-old claimed last Sunday at Montmeló, the site the Catalan Grand Prix. “Then we got to Jerez and things were a little tougher, but finally we actually came out of there with a lot more knowledge about the bike. We really improved it for Race 2, although we obviously didn’t get a chance to put that all together. It’s given us little nuggets of information for this next part of the season”.

In that Race 2, Davies was in contention for third place after a brilliant start from the lower end of the grid. The Welshman was however involved in a clash with Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) which took both men out of the race and remains a heated topic one week on. The Italian rider received a grid penalty which will be applied in the Misano Tissot Superpole Race.

Davies and Melandri had different takes on the Jerez tumble, with the Ducati rider still feeling the aftermath: “I’ve still got a dead leg, one week later!”.

“I stand by what I said, it’s pretty obvious to anyone who’s rode a motorbike around Jerez. I don’t need to bang on about it too much, but when you know, you know. There’s creative passes and then there’s just stupid passes, and that one was definitely the latter”.

Misfortune or missteps aside, Davies will be fully focused on putting the incident behind him and returning to the rostrum in Misano, one of the few tracks on the calendar where the Welshman has been unable to score a win. Second in last year’s Race 1 has been his best result so far.

Watch the full interview here.

Can the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati squad return to the top step of the podium on home turf? Find out as the Pata Riviera di Rimini Round gets rolling on WorldSBK VideoPass!