The Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Will Davison says he is battling a “pretty sketchy” brake issue in his #17 Ford Mustang at the Repco Bathurst 1000.
The two-time Great Race winner will vie for pole position in this afternoon’s Top 10 Shootout having set a time good enough for 10th in Qualifying, after which he admitted via a team press release that he was “relieved to be in the 10” given a then unspecified braking drama.
Car #17 was classified 11th in the weekend’s just-completed sixth practice session, the last before the one-lap dash, but Davison has been left with a concern about an ongoing braking inconsistency in the Dick Johnson Racing entry which he is sharing with brother Alex.
“We’ve been chasing an issue all weekend, so it’s very frustrating,” said Will Davison on broadcast just after Practice 6.
“I can’t drive other people’s cars so I don’t know what everybody else is experiencing, but I’ve never experienced anything else like this before.
“We’re still chasing it and it’s pretty sketchy.”
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Elaborating on the drama, he explained it as, “Just the bite from the front of the brakes.
“So, it seems to be changing significantly and then obviously the rear brake balance changes a lot depending on when the front goes, the rears come on, like someone’s ripping the handbrake on.
“Or, just locking fronts past the corner, the car’s running on, so just got hugely inconsistent braking temp rises in the car.”
Brakes have been a talking point already, with teams still getting their heads around the techniques required to change pads and rotors in the new-for-2023 Gen3 Supercars, including Grove Racing struggling to remove a rotor during the most recent session.
Both of DJR’s full-time entries are in the Shootout, with Anton De Pasquale third-fastest in Qualifying in the #11 Mustang and sixth-fastest in Practice 6.
De Pasquale declared after Qualifying that he will need a “miracle” to catch Erebus Motorsport’s Brodie Kostecki, the provisional pole-sitter and pace-setter for much of the weekend in his #99 Chevrolet Camaro.
DJR’s wildcard entry was qualified 25th by Repco Supercars Championship debutant Kai Allen, who is sharing the #98 Shell V-Power Mustang with Simona De Silvestro.
The Top 10 Shootout starts at 17:05 local time/AEDT.
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