Aruba Ducati's Chaz Davies lasted only half a lap in today's opening Imola WorldSBK race after an 'unavoidable' problem with his Ducati Panigale saw him run off track at Acque Minerale and retire.

Davies had this morning taken pole position with a new outright lap record and said it was by far the best he had felt with the V4R so far this year.

The Welshman was clearly disappointed not to be able to make use of his timesheet-topping performance but said he believes a corner has been turned in terms of setup.

"There will be more chances but today was a big one. It's the best it has been for a while but it's one of those things, nobody's fault, an intermittent problem that you can't really see on the data," Davies told bikesportnews.com at the track.

"It needed investigation but they have got to the bottom of it now. It was an electrical problem but different to the one at Buriram. Today's problem was unavoidable. It could have happened to any bike.

If you're in the shit you can't do these sort of laptimes. You can't produce a pole unless you feel good with the bike at any track, so that was a validation we have taken some steps forward, even from yesterday."

Davies is coy about exactly what changes have been made to the bike this weekend but said he can now flow with the Ducati.

"It's the first time I have had this feel, this flow with the bike, it was a nice lap. I am happy we have turned the corner and I have some pace now. Imola is a different style of track but I think we've made some big inroads this weekend.

"I'm feeling big differences with this bike with not so big changes. Yesterday I finished quite happy and today the guys put the setup together really, really well. A good step in the right direction."