Aruba Ducati’s Chaz Davies had a bit of a ‘nothing’ day during the first two sessions of WorldSBK testing at Phillip Island as the rain, wind and some bike changes left him with little in the way of track time.

The Welshman didn’t really get started but is hoping to get in plenty of work tomorrow as he looks ahead not only to the Australian race but also his bogey track of Buriram in Thailand.

“I did a run, I did like three laps, then stopped. I did two exits and as I left, it started raining so I just parked it for a bit and went back out and got three laps then stopped, then it rained and I went back out and got another three laps, so I got six laps,” Davies told bikesportnews.com

In the last 20 minutes his team made a change, but it took a little bit longer than expected which meant Davies was unable to get back out. However, at least the 30-year-old is pretty confident with the direction he and his team are heading in regards to bike setup.

“We need to focus on getting a race setup, because you spend a long time with new components and although there is probably a lot that can be positive about that you can also chase your tail with it and you need time to digest that information.

“While we are here now at the first race we know our package is solid. It’s just about adding the bits that we know which work, than introducing new stuff which is in the long list of what we have had. It’s kind of towards the bottom of the list at the moment of time.”

Ducati bosses have made it plain that nothing less than a world championship will do in 2017 and the dragon had his plan in place.

“Well to be world champion you need to win races. You also don’t need to give away points like we have in the last two years.
“I think the big priority is to be a more sure about our package now which we are 100 per cent sure than what we have in the past.
 
There are tracks that lend themselves more to our bike. I’m thinking more about the Buriram round as that has always been a tough round in the past because of the long straights and the temperature there.

“But there are a lot of tracks in the late part of the season which seems to suit our bike – whether it be me, the bike or our setup which has enabled us to be quite fast at.

“The objective is try and not to lose the points in the first two races. Even if we don’t take four wins on the trot it’s not a disaster. We have to think about the long game a little bit more. I struggle to switch that off when I race a little bit.

“When I race I want to win the race. If I have the opportunity to win I will go for the win. I can never really think of a time I have settled for second. It’s just not in me. It’s difficult to switch that off. As long as I’m confident with the bike then I don’t see why I shouldn’t be able to push at 100 per cent from the first lap to the last lap. If it’s good enough to win the race, if it’s not we don’t win.

Davies likes to do his own thing, as do most riders. But is there any different way of Davies and Melandri working together compared to when he was team-mates with Davide Giugliano.

“Honestly, no. But I do value Marco’s feedback as I did with Davide’s. If Marco is going fast then it’s worth sharing data. For sure Marco is looking at mine to. If I need to, I’ll look at his. I think Marco and I have always had similar comments, which is really good. I think in the development side of things it will possibly be a bit easier working with Marco than what it was with Davide.

“Not to say Davide and I were worlds apart, but it seems consistently with Marco there is always whatever I say, he says as well.”