Chaz Davies: A point to prove

Greg catches up with 32-time World Superbike race winner Chaz Davies ahead of a season in which he moves from the factory Ducati team to a private one. But if you think that means he won’t be winning races, perhaps you should think again…

Published in last week’s MCN newspaper (Wednesday 3^rd March), Davies talks of his demands for an English-speaking crew chief for the first time in his WorldSBK career; the Welshman is now working alongside Pete Jennings, who has formerly engineered the likes of Tom Sykes and Eugene Laverty.

The candid Davies also admitted that he’s a ‘slow burner’ when it comes to developing new motorcycles, as seen in 2014 and 2019 with Ducati’s v-twin Panigale and V4 Panigale, respectively. As expected, the 98-time podium finisher also confirmed that his pre-season testing plan consists of many a qualifying lap and practice start in a bid to dial out ‘killer’ Row 4 starting positions and challenge at the front right from the beginning of races.

Although the GoEleven team is on a significantly lower budget than Aruba Ducati, it is heavily supported by the Bologna factory. In theory, Davies’ bike will be closest to those of Scott Redding and Michael Ruben Rinaldi at the start of the season – before the factory squad’s larger development plan moves it further forward. Could we see Chaz back on the top of the podium at Round 1? Imagine that!