Image: Supplied.

Following a dismal start to the year, Chaz Davies broke through to claim a double-podium at Aragon’s third round of the 2019 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) on the weekend.

The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati contender struggled to come to grips with the all-new Panigale V4 R in the opening rounds, while his teammate and WorldSBK rookie Alvaro Bautista has gone undefeated.

The British talent performed strongly in all three outings, completing the Spanish round with a 3-4-3 scorecard that has boosted him to seventh in the series rankings.

“I’m really satisfied with today’s result,” said Davies. “More so for my team and my side of the garage than me, because they’ve been working so hard all through the winter. It’s not easy when things are not going so well, but we’re always working hard looking for answers and trying our best whether it’s 10th or here on the podium.

“It was a strong weekend for me, but I’m a bit disappointed about losing second place in race two. At the start of the last lap, I went in deep at turn one and left the door open for Johnny, after which there wasn’t much chance of getting it back.

“At any rate, I was happy to back up yesterday’s result with another third position. It wasn’t easy in the wind, but we worked well this weekend to make big progress and I hope to build on that next weekend at Assen.”

Bautista leads the championship with a commanding 39-point advantage over four-time defending champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) as the series heads to Assen in The Netherlands this weekend.