Chaz Davies finished fifth in the first race at Aragon. The GO Eleven team driver, best independent driver of the day, was not satisfied with a last place. In fact, Chaz openly stated that he was aiming for the podium today, but could not achieve that goal either because of the tires and the bike. He was also slightly controversial with Ducati.
“Choosing the tire was not an easy decision,” Davies began. “In the end, I thought that as the temperature rises, I might gradually come into play. Unfortunately, I had a huge drop on the left side in the last few laps. When I got back to Toprak I was feeling pretty good and thought I could deal with some issues. I believed that I could do it and that if I had a chance, I would get on the podium. Three laps to go. I took a really big drop and in my position where I was already struggling. I started to have more problems. I had no grip and no stability on the left side and basically I decided to take some points with me by finishing in this position. “
What do you think of Ducati’s decisions? None of the motorcycles made it onto the podium today. What are your ideas for the rest of the season?
“To be honest, I thought we would definitely be on the podium here. It seems that others have worked very hard and in other areas. Yes, we may have been left behind, but that’s nothing new. We need to discuss this with Ducati to understand what changes we need to make. “
Do you think the engineers can solve your bike problems?
“Yes, I trust it very much.”
Is that the problem? Not getting enough help now?
“That’s a question you should ask someone else. I think you know that it is very difficult and that I work hard. Honestly, I haven’t seen any progress this winter. It’s hard to say that we have everything we need when we haven’t really had anything new since the end of last year. “
Is there a connection between the successes achieved in MotoGP and your 5th place today?
“I don’t think we’re getting much in this paddock to make progress. We don’t have fifty percent attention, also because it wouldn’t be possible. “
Did you choose the wrong tire or would you still have had this pace?
“It would be easy to say now that I made the wrong decision. I put on the SC0 well and was pretty convinced of the choice last year. Maybe it wasn’t right today. It depends on you, but also on the bike. In my opinion, it’s not just the SC0. As we saw today, Scott Redding also struggled at a few moments in the race. I think each connection had its advantages and disadvantages. I think there was no better choice than the other today. Neither was perfect. It would be interesting to know how things would have gone with a different tire. “