Chaz Davies is confident of a stronger fight at favoured circuit Magny-Cours having enjoyed significant progress with his injured collarbone.

Davies had been a major doubt for the Portimao round two weeks ago after sustaining a second collarbone break while training at Aragon less than three weeks before the Portuguese round.

Racing through the pain, Davies secured an impressive pair of fourth places to retain his second spot in the World Superbike riders’ championship, with Pata Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark trimming the deficit to 20 points, while defending champion Jonathan Rea moved to 116 points ahead at the top of the standings.

But with Davies producing a dominant double victory at Magny-Cours in 2017, followed up by a further victory in last year’s race two, the Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider is optimistic for the French round following sustained recovery from his collarbone injury.

“Physically, I'm feeling a bit better, stronger and with less pain compared with Portimao,” Davies said. “In the last few days the collarbone hasn't given me any trouble in day-to-day activities, so I hope the weather stays consistent and we'll try to get the most out of our time on track.

“We've done well at Magny Cours in the past couple of years. We always had a good pace, winning three races out of four.

“I enjoy the track, it's quite basic but also technical, with a lot of tight turns. It forces you to push more each lap, trying to turn quicker or brake deeper, and it presents different challenges compared with most other circuits on the calendar.”

Davies had to mathematically concede the 2017 World Superbike title to Rea in race one at Magny-Cours last year when he suffered with an electrical issue during the wet opening race which restrained him to a lowly 10th place.

History could repeat itself if Davies concedes nine points or more to Rea in the opening race at Magny-Cours which would hand the Northern Irish rider a fourth successive World Superbike title.