Will Davison is confident an ankle injury won’t prove an issue during the races at the CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown after successfully completing Friday practice.
Davison underwent hyperbaric chamber treatment to speed up the healing process and has brought his physio Jeremy Cross to the race meeting to assist with the injury.
Cross is a physio to former MotoGP champion Casey Stoner and top Australian golfer Adam Scott.
Despite being unable to walk without the use of a moon boot, the 35-year-old managed to complete Friday’s practice sessions without a hitch, only altering his driving style slightly.
He finished the sessions in ninth and 19th respectively.
Davison does expect to feel some pain during the race but its not overly concerned by his ailment.
Operating the clutch on race starts and during pit stops is most likely to be his biggest issue.
“I’m pretty happy with Friday, I was obviously a bit nervous about it,” said Davison.
“I’m expecting a bit of pain late in the races, for sure, but I’m not overly concerned it’s going to cause me any drama.
“You don’t really need the clutch on the downshifts but you’d still rather use it, and just the starts and pit stops might be the biggest concern.
“But if I just stay on the treatment, it just swells up really quickly, so if I just stay on what I need to do, get the strapping done correctly (it should be ok).”
Davison has been using crutches to manoeuvre himself around the garage.
Supercars medical delegate Dr Carl Le has assessed the injury and deemed the two-time Bathurst 1000 winner fit to drive.
“(Dr Carl Le) knows the injury, he’s seen my scans, he’s comfortable with it, and he came up as a few of the Supercars people wanted to see me get in and out of the car in seven seconds because they saw me on crutches.
“But that’s (the use of crutches) more to try to, as I said, just look after it over the weekend.
“It’s more in the rehabilitation phase now, it’s not a necessity, it’s more just trying to stay off it, stop the swelling, so it looks serious but I can get in and out of the car quickly if I need to.
“I just don’t want to knock it and twist it and bang it unnecessarily, so they were onto me a bit there, Carl warned me of that, but he’s confident, he’s seen me and he knows what I’m dealing with.”
The CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown continues today with final practice at 1050 local time, ahead of qualifying and a 42 lap race, scheduled for 1615.
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