Ducati's Chaz Davies had two podiums in the first Motorland Aragon race weekend, but he only got one this time around at Aragon #2, after he fell in the second long race after he finishing fifth in the sprint.

Third in race one on Saturday was good news for his championship chase, as he moved into third place, but he slipped to fourth again on Sunday. Not that it really matters as from Razgatlioglu in third to Alex Lowes in seventh, only 20 points separate five riders, with three full rounds to go.

Davies said of his Teruel round podium experience, as opposed to his Aragon round experiences, “Different grip level, different feeling with the bike, and obviously from the temperature. Full sun and closer to 50 degrees track temp whereas last week it was nearer the low thirties, I believe.

"There was a different reaction from the bike. I changed the rear tyre (for a super-soft X) and it was a little bit of a risk. Semi-educated - semi-paid off, semi-didn’t. In the end it is difficult to push you just have to stay consistent and that is what I did. I tried to take advantage of that, stay smooth and not kill the tyre too much.”

Once again Davies was on the third row but this time, he said that it influenced his race less. “Not so much because I wasn’t really able to push at any point, not to kill the tyre.”

Davies has seen the race one winner last weekend, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, go from inexperienced Ducati rider on the make to a convincing  winner on a privateer bike when Davies was third, and now he is tipped as a serious rival to take over Davies’ factory seat in 2021. Was it a bitter-sweet sight to see Rinaldi win?

“No, not really. I am super-happy for Michael he has been having a good season and he rode fantastically in that race. I am happy for him. Even though he is in a different team he has been supported by Aruba.it for several years, was in the Superstock team with Aruba.it a few years ago when he won the championship.

We have a relationship that goes back quite along time, so he is like the annoying fast little brother that you don’t want to beat you! In the end you can only be happy for him. He works hard, he has had tough moments in his career, like all of us, and he has managed to come out of the other side and score a fantastic result.”

Part of the reason GoEleven Ducati and Rinaldi have been a marked improvement on GoEleven and a proven winning rider like Eugene Laverty from 2019 is that the team made the swap to Öhlins suspension, got hold of Bautista’s 2019 bike and now can enjoy a lot direct development and data sharing. Which works in all directions, factory to privateers and back again. But Davies ruled out that he had been advising Michael or anything of that nature.

“He has been going well enough without asking me anything. It looks like he has found his feeling a little bit and he has found his feeling with the bike. I don’t think I could really offer him anything. His pace was outstanding today. Data sharing is an open book, on their side and our side.

"And another thing is that Michael is, essentially, our test rider. He was in Misano two days last week, trying a couple of things. Even if his bike is last year’s spec the level of all the customer bikes is very, very close.”