Many people think that Chaz Davies will never be World Champion in Superbike, although he was in Supersport. Michel Fabrizio (former official Ducati rider with Noriyuki Haga as teammate) directly accused the Italian manufacturer of incompetence because it kept the Welsh rider in its workforce.
Aged 33, Chaz has completed 15 GPs in 125 cc, 3 in 55 cc and 250 in MotoGP (on a Ducati from the Pramac d'Antin team). After winning the World Supersport in 3 on Yamaha, Davies raced in WSBK in 3 on Aprilia, on BMW in 2011, then on Ducati from 2012 to 2013. He finished second in the World Championship in 2014, third in 2020, and won 2017 races in 2016 participations, with 30 podiums to boot.
In comparison, Michel Fabrizio has won 4 races in 184 participations, with 34 podiums.
“Davies has been with Ducati for many years,” said Fabrizio to our colleagues at Motosprint.it. “I don’t know why they continue with him instead of giving a young driver a chance. There was a Savadori who has a lot of talent but hasn't been able to show it yet. But I wish Chaz a good season. »
There is no doubt at Ducati about Davies' qualities. “ We are not disappointed by Chaz's performance or commitment ", said Stefano Cecconi, Ducati team principal. »
“I'm not complaining, he's doing everything he can to get good results. I'm much more disappointed that it took us this long to find solutions to get him to ride fast on our motorcycle. We didn't expect him to have so many problems and Bautista to have none. It was a surprise for all of us. »
“Last year we assumed that Chaz would be the safe driver for us and Alvaro the shaky candidate. But it turned out that the opposite happened. »
“But we cannot be disappointed. Chaz had a very difficult winter last year with injuries, that didn't help. But I was always sure that sooner or later we would find the key to its success. »
“It took a while with the V2 back then too, before I found the right setup for it. We have this winter and another season to make it successful. »
“The difficulty is finding a setting that allows him to play to the strengths of his riding style in the braking zone and entering corners, but at the same time we must not lose the strengths of the bike . »
“We are strong coming out of the corner and with good acceleration. It took us a long time to find this compromise for Chaz. »
Photos © Ducati
Source: Speedweek.com
