Ducati inconsistency ‘repeating itself, needs to be addressed’ - Davies

Chaz Davies believes the same inconsistency issues he’s faced for several WorldSBK seasons with Ducati is once again coming to the fore; ‘History is sort of repeating itself. Look at Rinaldi this weekend and Scott’ [Redding].

Robert Jones

08 Jul 2021

Chaz Davies, Donington Park WorldSBK race 2, 4 July 2021
© Gold and Goose

A less than 100% fit Chaz Davies claimed an impressive P7 finish during WorldSBK race two at Donington Park.

Davies struggled with a right arm injury that occured in Misano during Friday and Saturday’s running, however, the Ducati rider felt much improved on Sunday after thinking ‘it was going to be much the same’.

The experienced Ducati man was only three seconds away from a top five finish - would have been the first since second place in Estoril.

And while it was a ‘tough weekend’ overall, Davies was ‘really happy’ with seventh place - a position that would usually produce opposite emotions.

Davies added: "Yeah, it’s been a tough weekend, no doubt about it. It’s been a mixed bag conditions wise and results wise.

"Difficult to be happy with P7, but to be honest I’m really happy with it. After the injury [Misano] I didn't feel great on Friday and in the race yesterday; fair bit of pain and very weak.

"I thought it was going to be much the same today. But I changed the preparation a little bit, did a couple of things differently which actually knocked the edge off.

"I managed to have a good race. Still a little bit behind the ball in terms of strength, but happy to sort of be in that group chasing down the likes of Van Der Mark - especially because I came from a little bit back as I got a little bit beat up in the first couple of laps."

The big takeaway from round four at Donington was Ducati’s consistency issues, as Scott Redding and Michael Rinaldi lost major ground in the championship.

And with Davies being the most experienced Ducati rider on the grid, it’s a facet of the bike he knows all too well which is ‘repeating itself’.

"It’s not so easy to answer that question. There’s a few areas where we suffer and I think from the outside it can seem quite rosy at times, but on the inside; not just this but previous years it’s quite difficult to maintain consistency of race wins," added Davies.

"I’ve been there winning races and then the next race you struggle to crack a top five.

"History is sort of repeating itself. Look at Rinaldi this weekend and Scott [Redding]. It’s definitely something that needs to be addressed."