A technical issue on the opening day of FIM Motul Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) testing at Phillip Island hindered Chaz Davies’ progress as he continues to adapt the the all-new Ducati Panigale V4 R.

Faced with the problem in the first session, the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider was only able to notch up 21 laps. In the afternoon, track conditions worsened due to the strong winds, only allowing Davies to record a best-time of 1m32.783s after an additional 35 laps, positioning him 13th on the timesheets.

“Today was quite a tough day for me, because for the moment the priority is to improve my confidence with the bike by making small steps forward with the set-up,” Davies explained. “Lap times aside, my confidence grew throughout the day however. We’re making changes, but there’s still a lot of work to do to improve the feeling on the bike.

“I’ve not done a lot on the new bike this winter because of my back twinge, and I haven’t been in a condition to really get to know the bike, but as long as I can get more comfortable for the race, I’ll be happy.”

Day one of testing was topped by Davies’ teammate and WorldSBK newcomer Alvaro Bautista, making his mark on the Superbike field after transitioning from the MotoGP World Championship.