Battling through the pain barrier from a recently refractured collarbone, Chaz Davies says the Portimao round was ‘one of the most challenging rounds in my career’ as he secured two fourth place finishes.

The Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider was a major doubt for the resumption of the World Superbike championship in Portugal following the lengthy summer break when he suffered a second collarbone injury while training at Aragon less than three weeks earlier.

At the start of the summer break Davies underwent surgery for an initial collarbone break, ruling him out of Ducati’s festival at Misano, but his Aragon off refractured the bone and displaced the metalwork from the operation.

Racing through the pain, Davies produced an impressive pair of fourth places – and led race two for over 10 laps having started on the reverse grid pole – and ‘wouldn’t have believed’ the results given his fitness at the start of the weekend.

“This was one of the most challenging rounds in my career,” Davies said. “Portimao is one of the most physical tracks on the calendar and I haven't been able to train properly for a long time, not to mention the pain in the right shoulder.

“Honestly, if somebody would have told me that I would get P4 twice here, I wouldn't have believed it.

“Big thanks to my guys because we've made strides with the package through the weekend and we ended up actually quite close to the winners. Now we've got a few days to train and rehab ahead of Magny Cours to kick start the final part of the season. I'm looking forward to the next race.”

Davies held on to second place in the World Superbike championship standings but did see closest rival Michael van der Mark close the gap to 20 points with his double podium for Pata Yamaha at Portimao.