Within moments of the car coming to a rest, rival Percat pulled up and jumped out of his car to check on Davison.
He was effectively the first responder, helping Davison unplug his radio and hop out of the car, before encouraging him to sit down.
According to Percat, the decision to stop was a natural one to make – particularly given Davison was injured in the monster pile-up in Tasmania back in 2017.
“Davo is one of my good mates, who I see outside of the race track,” Percat told Speedcafe.
“I had flashbacks from his crash in Tassie when he hurt his back, and the angle I saw the car, it looked like he’s had a monumental head-on. So I wanted to see if was alright.
“It felt natural to stop and get out and check on him. I knew I was last on road, because I went out last.
Secure your spot today.
“I told him to chill because he was winded and not happy with himself, so it was more to make sure he wasn’t in any pain. And once the adrenaline wore off I told him to sit next to wall, and then I was off on my merry way.”
Percat said he expects Davison to be sore given the impact, but had no concerns over any serious injuries.
“Yeah, I think he was [okay],” he said. “I think he was winded. And then disappointed, which is normal when you’ve had a big crash like that. You know it’s a lot of work for the team.
“I can read him pretty well from our relationship. I imagine he’s going to be sore.”
Shattering end to @BoostAus Qualifying at Mount Panorama 😳#RepcoSC #Supercars #Bathurst1000 pic.twitter.com/oCXqAIS05E
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Percat qualified 13th and could have potentially made the Top 10 Shootout had it not been for Davison’s crash, which red flagged the session when he was on a lap.
Still, it was a decent effort given Percat’s car was crashed by co-driver Dylan O’Keeffe in practice earlier today.
“When we went out we said we wanted to do a solid job and not hang them off the fence, and I think Cam [Hill] and I did exactly that,” said Percat.
“From my side, the first lap of the last run was a banker and got us to 13th, and the last lap we were green on every little micro, and my dash was green. I thought that was going to put us out seventh, but it got cut short, which was unfortunate.
“But incredible to fix those two cars. We’ve still got a bit of work to do them. My thing has a bit of panel damage still, so it’s slow in a straight line.”
Davison is one of a number of experienced drivers to crash this weekend, with Scott Pye shunting on Thursday and David Reynolds during qualifying.
According to Percat, the crashes are a consequence of the tight margins throughout the field – and the less glamorous times produced by the low-downforce Gen3 cars.
“I think with this Gen3 car we’re so used to the Hollywood lap time,” he said.
“It’s surprising when you come across the line, and you feel like you’ve done a good job, and it’s a 2m07.2s. I think there’s an element of that.
“The cars have been fine-tuned and they feel really good, but we’re driving them really close to the limit. All of us had moments there, I had a couple under the tree.
“The category is so tight now, we were 12th and 13th and needed three one-hundredths to make the Shootout. So we’re all on the limit the whole time.”
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