SBK | Pirelli Aragon Round, Race 2: Davies brings out seven at Motorland

After chasing it in Race 1, where he finished in second place thanks to a spectacular arrival at the photo finish with Fores, Chaz Davies achieved a great victory in the second heat of the Pirelli Aragon Round: it is the seventh seal at Motorland, a track which evidently feels a lot in his heart.

Ducati, however, also celebrates Marco Melandri's third place and Michael Ruben Rinaldi's seventh position, first among independent riders: really not bad for the young STK1000 Champion, making his debut with the Junior Team Aruba.

Returning to Davies, his race started off uphill given that by fitting soft tires he wanted to give himself a few laps to understand the pace of his Panigale: from seventh position at the end of the first lap, however, he quickly climbed up to fight for the lead of the group, achieved thanks to two spectacular overtakings on Marco Melandri and Jonathan Rea.

“Today number 7 is lucky, but we have to keep working. We started from eighth place on the grid, three places ahead of yesterday, I knew I could push in the first laps. But I didn't have the feeling I expected, we used the softer tires and I expected to stay on the tracks. I was patient and tried not to force myself, I put myself in a good position and observed how the race progressed, so I'm happy” – he said Chaz Davies.

Despite the third position, Marco Melandri he is not satisfied with his races in which he experienced a lot of vibrations and oscillations on the Panigale, which he had already experienced in the past, together with a brake problem on the last lap: "It's frustrating when you have the speed to fight for the victory but you can't take the step. Every time I tried to pass, the bike was unstable and I almost fell when I tried to pass Jonny in the slipstream. I lost the rear brake in the last laps and almost crashed in turn 3. It was difficult to finish the lap, but luckily it was the last one. Third place is good, but it's not what I actually wanted.”

Making his WorldSBK debut this weekend, Michael Ruben Rinaldi he impressed throughout the weekend, from free practice to the races: “It was a great race with the guys, they are very fast and I tried to follow them throughout the race. Unfortunately in the last five laps I was very tired and the tires were worn out, but I tried to bring home the best result possible. Seventh place is good, I couldn't have started in a better way. I'm happy because for me and my team it's a new category and we started off on the right foot. We need to improve in the last part of the race, which is our weak point for now, but I'm happy and I thank everyone so much.”