Will Davison claimed he had pace in his pocket at the end of Race 24 of the Repco Supercars Championship in Sandown, an encounter he described as a “dream run”.
The Shell V-Power Racing driver dominated the 36-lap affair, holding sway off the line to convert pole position into an early race lead.
Though unable to drop second-placed Shane van Gisbergen in the opening stanza, strong pace following his compulsory pit stop saw him take the chequered flag with a commanding margin of more than eight seconds.
“Just a dream run,” Davison said of the race.
“Privileged to have a race like that, you know. I’m pushing hard, I’m feeling really good, but been around a while and when you have races like that, a car like that… just huge shout out to to Rich [engineer, Richard Harris], I mean everyone had Shell V-Power Racing.”
Key to the victory was a strong start, which left him clear of the pack heading into the first turn, while van Gisbergen behind was left to fend off the advances of Will Brown.
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“I was sitting there like ‘don’t overthink it’,” Davison admitted.
“I’m good off the line, and just how many seconds have I had? How many pole positions haven’t I converted?
“So there’s no point overthinking it, just keep it simple.
“Yeah, launched well and then I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but the car was really nice.
“Just awesome that it hung onto its tyres like that and we could really control the speed.
“Towards the end, obviously I was watching the gap to Shane and I didn’t know if [there’d be a] Safety Car, and trying to look after tyres,” he added.
“I knew I was pretty safe with four or five to go. I had some more speed in the car, so that’s always a nice feeling.”
Davison has been arguably the form driver of the weekend thus far, taking victory, pole position, and topping the only main game driver practice session on Friday.
However, he suggests that form guide is no guarantee heading into Sunday, with a further two races on the cards.
“We know day to day in this sport, things change very quick,” he said.
“We’ll definitely be on our toes tonight and have a good look at things.
“But we’ll enjoy this, I’m going to enjoy it.”
Davison’s success, his second of the 2022 campaign, topped a double-podium for the squad, with Anton de Pasquale shadowing van Gisbergen to the line in third.
Having run fourth through the opening laps, a comparatively early stop afforded him the opportunity to gain track position on Will Brown to finish the race on the podium.
“Pitted a bit early to get the undercut on Will, which worked out,” he said.
“Obviously awesome for Will to get the win, both cars on the podium, it’s a good day.”
The result comes in the same week as Dick Johnson Racing announced it will have a new majority shareholder from January next year.
The Ralph family has taken a stake in the team, with figurehead Brett Ralph present in Sandown this weekend.
“It’s obviously good on the back of all that you read in the news all week,” de Pasquale said.
“To get a couple podiums to start is always good, but that’s what we’re always aiming for.
“Hopefully we can be there or thereabouts again tomorrow.”
Sunday’s Supercars action starts at 10:55 AEST with back-to-back qualifying sessions for the day’s two races.
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