Chaz Davies has admitted he is finding it difficult to adapt to track conditions on the Ducati V4 R Panigale as his indifferent run of World Superbike Championship form laboured on at Misano.
The Welshman – runner-up to Jonathan Rea last season – struggled to find pace initially on the new Aruba.it Racing prepared V4 Ducati, particularly relative to his now 14-time winning team-mate Alvaro Bautista, but appeared to have turned a corner with a strong showing at Imola.
However, a tough Jerez was followed by a similarly out-of-sorts Misano where a fifth in the wet first race and a seventh in race two was tempered by a crash in the Superpole Race.
Now a mammoth 216 points behind Bautista in the overall standings, Davies admits he is finding it hard to change his riding style to suit the new-for-2019 machine.
“It has been a difficult Sunday for me. I lost the front in the Superpole Race in Turn 14, and as a result didn’t get the chance to start in the top 9 for Race 2. Then we made some changes for Race 2, but they didn’t give us the step we needed.
“It was a critical racetrack today because grip was low, but it was the same for everyone. I just felt like I’ve got no adaptability with the bike, even though I tried to change my style during the race.
“It’s a bit frustrating to finish races like that, because I know we can do better than that. We just need to learn from the information and work hard in the areas that are letting us down at the moment.”
