GoldBet BMW rider Chaz Davies claimed his best ever qualifying result in the Superpole sessions of the World Superbike Championship at Moscow. The Welshman finished second, putting his bike on the front row of the grid, and was narrowly pipped to the post by Althea Racing's Davide Giugliano who claimed his debut pole position at the circuit.
At the beginning of Superpole one, both Davies and team-mate Marco Melandri did two laps on race tyres and then returned to the garage, having comfortably qualified for the second part. In Superpole two, the Brit again started with a race tyre, then he came to the pit lane to change to his first qualifying tyre. With this, he put in the second fastest time and progressed easily to the final session.
In the final and deciding Superpole three, Davies began with his second qualifying tyre and was temporarily fastest. In the end he slipped back to second when Giugliano set a better time to secure pole position, but even though he was denied pole by the Italian the Powys based racer is ‘satisfied’ with his performance and pace this afternoon.
“I am very happy. The result confirms the steps that we have taken all weekend have been right. We made the turning a little bit better and now I feel like I can actually force the front to turn rather than the bike deciding where it wants to go,” said Davies.
“We made some changes that have really helped. I felt that I did not make the best lap, I lost a couple of tenths here and there, maybe enough to keep me off from pole but to get there you have to put it all together and I did not. But still I am very satisfied with the front row and am looking forward to the races.
"I think it is going to be a battle tomorrow, it is going to be close off the line and whoever has the pace will stay at the front. I think that it will be between a few riders tomorrow. It will be interesting but I am pretty confident with my package and on the few laps we did today in the dry, I had a good pace.”