Davies: "I’ve got a home in Ducati"
Championship contender and first time Panigale winner talks wearing red
So far this season, Chaz Davies has had some spectacular victories courtesy of faultless double wins at MotorLand Aragón and the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola – a home race for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team that Davies calls home. As the Ducati squad head out on track to test at Lausitzring, WorldSBK.com caught up with Davies to talk about how he has become a Borgo Panigale talisman in a few short seasons.
When the Welshman joined the Ducati team in 2014, the Panigale was a bike that had never won a race – a fact that Davies was determined to put right in his new home – and the project was one for both rider and team to put everything into. That first year, in 2014, Davies and the Panigale stood on the podium a number of times – but the first win was elusive. After Davies’ first WorldSBK season without a victory, 2015 saw more progress and the stage seemed set.
“Everything went in the right direction,” says Davies of that first foray in red. “The trend has always been positive, in the last three seasons. We’ve gone from quite competitive at some tracks in the first year to being able to fight for the win at most tracks now – that’s how it should be with a factory team. The standout is the first win for the Panigale, after not having won a race the year before – it meant a lot to me.”
That first win came at MotorLand Aragón near the beginning of the 2015 season. After getting incredibly close to the victory in Race 1, the former WorldSSP Champion knuckled down and made another push for the line in Race 2 – finally taking the historic win for the 1199 Panigale R, and his first win with the Italian manufacturer.
“In 2015 obviously the first target was to win a race and we did that at Aragon. That was incredible,” adds Davies. “Then there was the double at Laguna and the wins in Jerez, and Malaysia – that one was really special.”
That Malaysian victory saw Davies’ deny Rea the title in a last lap, last corner pass that laid it all on the line. It was the culmination of the progress made by the team after that first win in Aragón, which was a turning point in the season for the Welshman on his way to becoming the key title challenger to Kawasaki’s new signing Jonathan Rea. It was also milestone in the new, Gigi Dall’Igna-led Ducati project. So what attracted him to sign for the Italian team?
“At the time, the Panigale needed to improve,” says Davies. “It was quite a young bike and I needed to see results from it. But the stability and riding the same bike for two years was the biggest factor. I think I chose the right move because it was a similar time to when the structure of Ducati changed. I’m sure I made the right decision then and although it was a risk for me and for them, now I can honestly say it’s been a great move for me. I’ve got a really good home in Ducati and I hope to stay inside the family for many years to come.”
The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team are one of those testing at Lausitzring on the 26th-27th July as the WorldSBK summer break gets underway, before the paddock heads back to the venue for Round 10 from September 16th-18th and the Pirelli German Round kicks off the final part of the season.
