Britain's Chaz Davies has effectively ruled out a challenge for this year's World Superbike Championship laurels but says he can still take a top-three spot in only his second year in the series.

Davies is 51 points behind leader Tom Sykes in table so it would take something extraordinary to happen for Davies to bag the top spot. He goes into this weekend's Istanbul round hoping to net big points as he is looking for a spot in a factory team next year.

"At this point of the season, the championship still isn’t impossible and to finish within the top 3 is more realistic now so it is nice to get these results at this important time of the year. My target for Istanbul is to repeat what we did at the Nürburgring," said Davies.

“I have raced at Istanbul before, although it was with a 250cc machine which is completely different to a 1000cc BMW Superbike. In addition, I expect that the conditions of the circuit have changed in the seven years since I was last there," said Davies.

"But I have good memories of Istanbul, as I was quite fast there on a 250cc bike and I am sure it will be a good track for me now too. I will use the first 40 minutes of the opening session to get familiar with the track again.

"The results at Nürburgring are a real boost for the next races. We needed that and it was what we had the potential for already at Moscow and Silverstone, so it was nice to actually finish the job at Nürburgring."