Will Davison made his track debut as an Erebus Motorsport driver in one of the team’s Mercedes SLS GT cars at Phillip Island today.
Erebus was one of a number of local teams testing at the Victorian venue ahead of the February 7-9 Bathurst 12 Hour.
The Ford Performance Racing convert is not expected to have his first run in an Erebus V8 Supercar until Sydney’s pre-season test, scheduled for a week after the Mount Panorama classic.
Davison, who has not raced a GT car since 2007, said he spent the day adapting to the car.
“I’m still finding the limit in the high speed sections of the circuit,” he said.
“The V8s are the hardest thing you could ever drive on the Mountain, so I’m expecting that I should be able to adapt pretty quickly around there.
“It’s not going to be easy by any means, but it’s going to be a lot of fun.
“It’s somewhere in the middle between an open-wheeler and a V8 Supercar to drive; you can still feel the weight in the car but the aero’s there,” he added.
Maro Engel, who Davison has replaced in Erebus’ V8 Supercars program, youngster Jack Le Brocq and veteran Greg Crick also turned laps in the two Erebus cars, with Germans Bernd Scheider and Nico Bastian to join the squad at Bathurst.
Engel’s day included an on-track duel with the Maranello Ferrari-mounted Craig Lowndes, mirroring the pair’s battle during the 2012 Australian GT Championship round at the venue.
“It brought back some good memories,” said Engel.
“I think both Craig and I are looking forward to continuing that battle on the Mountain.”
Lowndes and Tony D’Alberto had their first taste of the Maranello and Vicious Rumour Ferrari 458s during the day respectively.
Among others to attend the test were the M Motorsport Lamborghini of Justin McMillan and the Melbourne Performance Centre run Audis of Rod Salmon and Dean Koutsoumidis.
Steven Richards and Dale Wood led the testing program in the Lamborghini, which had only arrived in the country on Monday.
Hollywood star Eric Bana too made an appearance in Peter Hill’s 2008-specification Lamborghini.
His morning running was interrupted, however, when a wheel parted company with the car, forcing a walk back to the pits.
