The weekend in Aragon for Chaz Davies closed with a positive outcome: two second places and a 5th place in the Superpole Race. But the Ducati rider was missing that decisive leap towards a victory. "The tire was completely gone. I no longer had grip," he explained why there was nothing he could do against Rea.
But Chaz will be the first to know in few days if he'll still have another opportunity at Motorland and, to be able to take advantage of it, he has some work to complete.
"I'm thinking about what I could have done better. I can't be disappointed, and I'm happy, but I have so many things in my mind, and I want to talk to my team about it to try to improve, because I feel we can win but, at the moment, we're have some details to fix," he admitted. "Like I said yesterday, now our bike is a bit different from the last races. We've taken a step forward in some areas but, in a couple of others, we've lost something. We now have this weekend's experience to improve."
Compared to Portimao, there was a clear improvement. Is this due to a track that suits you more or to the improvements made to the Panigale V4?
"Both, but I think that the step forward with the bike had a greater influence, since I had good results in Jerez too, yet I felt that something fundamental was missing for me. This weekend, the race pace was extremely fast. Everyone went fast, Without this improvement on the Ducati, even if this is a good track for me, I couldn't have done what I did."
At what point is your relationship with the Panigale V4?
"It's complicated and sensitive bike. There's a lot to understand, but I don't consider it a problem, because I want to know what happens, otherwise you can't put all the pieces together. There are riders who don't want to know anything, give their comments, and then leave it to the engineers to analyze the data. I feel that if I get involved we can improve. This project started 18 months ago, and now I feel I'm in a position that I should have achieved much earlier, even though everyone is working hard."
You've only won once with this bike, last year in America.
"We're a team, we win and lose together, even if that can sound like a cliché. I'm working on getting everything right between me and the Panigale V4. It's work in progress. When the potential of the bike will be;what iIexpect, you'll see me win. I need more help, and I'm looking for it."
How much has a start influenced today's missed victory?
"It certainly didn't help. We had a bit of a long ratio because of the wind. Starting 5th was an opportunity to recuperate some positions but, in the end, it went like yesterday starting 9th. We can learn something from today. We're working to be constant at the start. We need to improve the entire package, clutch, and electronics. The start is one of the keys to getting a good result in the race."
Audio recorded by Andrea Rossi