Sepang (Malaysia), Saturday 1 August 2015 – The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team and its rider Chaz Davies were back on track at the Sepang International Circuit today for the final timed practice and all-important Superpole, qualifying in sixth place for tomorrow’s two Superbike races.
In dry conditions (air temperature 28°C, track 33°C), the Italian squad took part in the morning’s third and final timed practice, with the aim to improve rear grip in particular. Davies worked with his technicians to make some changes throughout the 45-minute session, concentrating on set-up, on optimizing rear grip and testing the new rear tyres brought by Pirelli. Although he did not improve on his best time set yesterday, the Welshman closed in overall sixth position, which guaranteed him direct entry to the second Superpole session.
In the free practice session Chaz was the victim of a small crash at turn 9; although unhurt, it caused him to lose 15 minutes of this 30-minute session, missing out on the opportunity to test final changes made to the bike ahead of the Superpole.
Superpole 2: having completed one lap with the race tyre, Davies returned to the track to make two laps using the qualifying solution. The Welshman did what he could to qualify inside the front two rows of the grid and, despite not having found the right feeling with the bike, he was able to stop the clocl on 2’04.179, closing the session in overall sixth position. Chaz will thus line up on row 2 of the grid for tomorrow’s two 16-lap races, with his technicians set to continue working on the bike this evening in order to give their rider the best chances of completing two good races.
Quotes after the day’s sessions:
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #7) – 6th (2’04.179)
“After a positive day yesterday, today we’ve had more trouble and I don’t exactly know why. I admit I didn’t do the best job with the qualifying tyre in the Superpole but I had no feeling so it was difficult to push. When the track temperature rises it seems that I can’t get the bike to dig in and I can’t find the grip I need. The electronics work overtime to try and find me some grip but this then affects me in terms of speed and acceleration out of the corners. Tomorrow’s races will be very difficult, we’ll try to find something more this evening and in morning warmup…”
