Ducati’s Chaz Davies has waited 15 years to reach the podium at Jerez, and on Sunday in the opening World Superbike race his long wait was over after he finished in third, behind the Aprilia duo of Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli.

Although there were some traction issues for Davies in the second half of race one, he was able to manage the situation and crossed the line in third place, to score his fourth podium of the season. In race two the Welshman, having started well, was able to move up from eighth to fourth place over the course of only four laps.

Positioned behind the two Aprilia’s and Tom Sykes’ Kawasaki, Davies maintained a strong pace for the entire duration of the race, and held off the charges of Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea, to finish the race in fourth.

“I’ve been coming here to Jerez for about fifteen years and have never reached the podium; it’s always been a tough track for me and so of course I’m very pleased with today’s result,” said Davies.

“In race one, the bike was really behaving well in the opening stages and I was able to make some fast laps but then, from about lap eight onwards, it became increasingly difficult to manage the drop in grip. We made a few changes to the rear to try to improve the ‘skatey’ feeling that we had in race 1 but, to be honest, it wasn’t a lot better in race two.

“Our pace wasn’t bad but we didn’t have enough in the second half of the race with which to make consistently fast lap times. But, all in all, a third and a fourth, at what I consider to be one of my weakest tracks, is a good result and I’m really happy. I think these results will give us confidence for the final races of the season.”