Ducati’s Chaz Davies bagged the World Superbike top spot during yesterday’s timed free practice sessions at Laguna Seca - a track he knows well from his AMA days, leaving the Welshman feeling confident of a front row start for the double-header tomorrow.

In the morning’s first outing, Davies wasted no time in getting down to work. He quickly moved into first position during the opening stages, with a fastest time of 1’24.300 that positioned him fourth at the end of the 45-minute session.

The Powys-based rider continued to improve in FP2, completing a series of very fast laps with a best time of 1’23.616 which put him up into second quickest. In the third and final timed session, a  1’23.293, recorded by Davies in the opening stages, proved unbeatable and assured the British rider of overall first position at the end of day one.

“Today’s been a really good day; we’ve been strong in each session and have also worked our way up in each session too. We’ve made a few tweaks throughout the day and everything seems to be working well,” said Davies.

“I feel we’re having a good spell right now; after solid results at Misano and Portimao we’ve come to Laguna knowing that the Panigale should perform well here, and so far it’s all going well. We’ll see what we can do in qualifying, as that’s not always my strong point but I’m feeling good and hope we can fight for a front row start.”