The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider Chaz Davies brought home an excellent second place today in the second race of the Argentinean Round of the Superbike World Championship, held this weekend at the San Juan Villicum circuit.
Today the conditions of the track, thanks to cooler temperatures than yesterday, were much better and this allowed the Welsh rider in particular to emerge in the second race of the day, after he had finished the Superpole Race in fourth. Starting badly from fourth on the grid, Chaz took the chequered flag in second, five seconds behind the winner Rea (Kawasaki) after a good comeback.
Team-mate Álvaro Bautista on the other hand was unable to repeat his win from yesterday. After a second place in the Superpole Race, he finished Race 2 in fifth. The Spanish rider, in the initial stages, battled it out with Rea for the top slot, before yielding and slipping down to fifth because of a sudden drop of rear tyre grip.
In the Riders’ standings Álvaro Bautista lies second with 460 points, while Chaz Davies remains seventh with 249 points.
WorldSBK now moves to the Middle East for the final event, where the Qatar Round will be held from 24th to 26th October at the Losail International Circuit close to the capital Doha.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing Ducati #7) – 4th / 2nd
“It was a really good way to finish the weekend. This morning in the Superpole race I was able to finish in fourth place which put me on the second row of the grid for race 2. Unfortunately, in the second race I made a bad start and I was swamped by several riders at the first corner. I felt comfortable enough however and began to pick my way through the pack. When I got up to second place the gap to Jonathan was almost three seconds, and although I closed it down a bit, it was impossible to get any closer to him. Pity because I think if I had been there from the beginning, it might have been a nice race. However, we were competitive on another track, that’s four or five now where we’ve been near or on the podium. A big thanks to the team for their work but also for standing by me yesterday. Hopefully now we can go to Qatar and continue the momentum to finish the season strong.”
Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #19) – 2nd / 5nd
“In the Superpole Race we had a good run, but unfortunately Rea’s pace was better than ours and it was difficult to keep up with him, so I think that second place is the most we could do. In race 2 on the other hand I started quite well, Jonathan gained a few metres on me but because of his error I was able to catch him and we had quite a duel. After about ten laps I began to feel an unexpected drop of grip at the rear which made me lose a few places. We still don’t know what happened, I was struggling to brake in the corner turn-in while on the exit, as soon as I opened the throttle I felt the bike spinning. It was a very difficult race and I’m disappointed because I think that today we could have fought for the win.”
Excellent second place for Chaz Davies in Race 2, Álvaro Bautista finishes in fifth
