Chaz Davies aims at Ducati: ‘No good reason’ given for axe, calls unreturned

Chaz Davies has railed against Ducati in the wake of his exit from its WorldSBK team, saying the ‘hurtful’ decision was made without giving him ‘a good reason’.

The Welshman discovered in the run up to the WorldSBK finale in Estoril that he wouldn’t be retained by the squad for the 2021 WorldSBK Championship, ending a successful seven-year tenure that yielded 27 victories on Ducati machinery.

To be replaced by Michael Ruben Rinaldi, though Davies has had difficulties adapting to the Panigale V4 - introduced in 2019 - relative to Alvaro Bautista and Scott Redding, he still grabbed third in the overall standings in 2020 and signed off his time with the without a poignant second win of the year in Portugal.

Speaking more freely about the decision, Davies reveals he hasn’t been given a clear indication of why he was being dropped and feels personally ‘hurt’ by the way it was handled after such a long stretch together. 

“To be honest, nobody gave me a good reason, so I’ve got to read between the lines a bit,” he told the WorldSBK website. “The only thing that Luigi Dall’Igna did mention once was Superpole, which I will accept has been a weakness. 

“However, I’d counter that with the fact we’ve reached a certain stability with the bike and the package and I don’t feel like I need to change too much, so I think we are in a better position now to work on a specific qualifying setup. It’s impossible not to take this decision personally. It hurts; it hurts a lot actually.”

He also adds that Ducati have not returned his calls when asked whether he’d land at one of its supported rides with GoEleven or Barni.
“I have obviously asked the question about it as I am out of Ducati, but nobody returned my phone call, which tells me they don’t want me.”

To complicate matters for Davies - who finished all but one of those seven seasons inside the overall top three - is the fact the late call means there are no factory-supported seats on the grid for 2021, which he says means he won’t be fighting for the title next year wherever he may end up.
"Some things that are in my hands? No. Some things that are being spoke about? Yes. Imagine sitting where I am sitting and feeling like you couldn’t fight for the Championship but not having the full support around you, you already start with an excuse. 
 
“I’m not saying that will be the situation but if you aren’t in the factory team then you automatically don’t have the full support.”