Jonathon Webb and Will Davison have outlined they were never worried their Bathurst 1000 victory would be taken from them in the wake of the Red Bull appeal fiasco.
Speaking after Red Bull’s appeal against the severity of Jamie Whincup’s 15-second penalty was thrown out on Tuesday night, the Tekno Autosport pair are eager to maintain their golden endurance form.
The pair lead the Pirtek Enduro Cup standings by six points over Shane van Gisbergen and Alex Premat going into this weekend’s deciding Castrol Gold Coast 600 round.
While downplaying the feeling of relief that the Peter Brock Trophy is finally firmly in their grasp, the pair is now focussing fully on the gruelling twin 300km races on the street track.
“I was reasonably comfortable that it wasn’t going to be taken off us from quite early on, but it had to go through the official process,” team owner/driver Webb, who became the first driver to win the Bathurst 12 Hour/1000 double in the same year, said.
“It was good on Tuesday night to get that reminder that it is definitely ours.
“It’s good that all that sort of stuff is gone now.”
Tekno’s ability to conquer the two toughest events at Bathurst in 2016 is a reminder the small one-car Triple Eight customer team is a bona fide member of the most competitive outfits on the grid.
“We’ve shown in the past with Shane coming second in the championship and we nearly won Bathurst in 2014,” said Webb.
“We’ve come close a few times now.
“It just reminds people that we are a small group at Tekno and we are only in our sixth season in.
“We are still quite young at this whole game and we are there to fight and to win.”
Like Webb, Davison says he was never concerned the Bathurst result was in doubt.
Davison even enjoyed sharing dinner with his close mate Whincup during the time before the appeal was heard.
“We didn’t discuss it too much,” Davison told Speedcafe.com.
“The incident didn’t involve us. He (Whincup) was just a little aggrieved with the harshness (of his penalty).
“I wasn’t concerned but it’s just all the chat around it. It always plays in the back of your mind.
“You always want these things to finish. You want to proudly engrave your name on the trophy and get on with it and enjoy it.
“It was lingering and it was little bit disappointing but it’s the nature of the event.”
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