An issue with his Ducati’s electronics in Saturday’s opening World Superbike race from Magny-Cours saw Chaz Davies struggle to a tenth-place finish.
The Welshman was one of a handful of riders to opt for the development rear rain tyre for Saturday’s 21-lap encounter, and was making it work in the early stages after jumping from seventh on the grid to second on the first lap.
However, just a couple of laps into the race, Davies began to dramatically drop off the pace as an issue with his Panigale’s button panel saw him struggle for grip under braking and exiting corners.
As a result, he plummeted down the order and eventually took the chequered flag in a lowly 10th spot.
“We had a strong start and the bike felt good at the beginning of the race,” said Davies, who now sits 25 points adrift of Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes in the battle for the second in the standings.
“But after three laps it had an issue and it became hard to control.
“It started to lock the rear and spin a lot under acceleration. We’ll look into it, but all we could do was try to make the chequered flag, so I’m a bit disappointed.”
With Sunday’s forecast predicting better weather, Davies – who was fourth fastest on the combined times in Friday’s dry running – hopes to confirm a set-up change his Ducati team made after Friday practice on Sunday morning, and is confident of a strong result in race two.
“Yesterday, in the dry, we were making good progress,” the Welshman, who will start race two from 11th, said.
“Our pace wasn’t the best, but we were competitive nonetheless. Hopefully it will be dry during WUP as well, as we want to verify one final step with the set-up.
“I’m quite confident about the direction we were going in, so hopefully we can bounce back with a solid result in race two.”
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