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Istanbul WSBK: Technical issues put a strain on Davies’ weekend

GoldBet BMW’s Chaz Davies has not had much luck so far at this weekend’s World Superbike round at the Istanbul Park circuit. Firstly the Welshman struggled with grip in Superpole one and then suffered a sensor failure in the final Superpole outing.

This morning’s free practice and second qualifying sessions were held in wet and damp conditions, but in the afternoon it was sunny again and Superpole was held in the dry. Both BMW riders’ did their first outing on race tyres. Davies’ lap time was good enough to bring him into Superpole two and he returned to the garage after a couple more flying laps.

In Superpole two he went out twice, once on race tyres and then on qualifying tyres to reach Superpole three. The rider only went out with five minutes to go, using his second qualifying tyre. But he then had a sensor failure and qualified eighth, only a few thousandths of a second behind Melandri on row three. Now Davies hopes his bad luck will change as he was not able to show his full potential this afternoon.

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“This afternoon we finally got some dry weather but unfortunately we did not seem to have a lot of luck. In the first Superpole, I struggled with the grip of the rear tyre. We made some changes and chose a different tyre in Superpole two and it was much better,” said Davies.

“But in Superpole three I immediately felt that there was an issue. There was a sensor failure in the shifting system and I had to use the clutch again. That did not allow me to push as I wanted to so unfortunately we are eighth on the grid. We definitely did not show our potential and I think we were capable of front row or maybe just the sharp end of the second row.

“Tomorrow will be quite interesting. I think a lot of people are in the dark a bit. I guess no one has done a full race distance so far. In addition, the circuit is changing every time you go out, so tomorrow there could be more grip but it could also be harder on the tyres. The main thing is to make a good start and then we will see.”

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