The Shell V-Power Racing Team is likely to compete today with a substantially different set-up as it continues to learn its Gen3 Ford Mustang package, believes Will Davison.
He finished ninth from 13th on the starting grid in Race 20 at The Bend, with Anton De Pasquale rising from 14th to 11th despite being part of a first-corner melee.
While missing the top 10 in qualifying might have masked the true race pace which the Dick Johnson Racing Mustangs were capable of, Davison admits they are not where they need to be.
“I think we’re in that probably P5, P6, to P10, to be honest; that’s about where we’re at today in quali, if we’d run again,” he told Speedcafe post-Race 20.
“We weren’t fooling ourselves. We knew we should have been in the [top] 10 but obviously in a short, sharp format, once you commit to a set-up [in the] morning, give or take a few tiny tweaks, you’re stuck in that path; you don’t have time.
“So, we’ve had to just persevere with what we rolled out with [on Saturday] with a few tweaks, and now tonight we can go, ‘Right, do we tweak it tomorrow, or do we have to have a big swing?’
“I think we’re going to have to have a decent change because we’re not quick enough.”
Davison and De Pasquale had been first and third respectively after the first runs in Part 2 of Saturday’s knockout qualifying session.
Making DJR’s day more challenging was the fact that they are still learning on the fly, with that task even harder for Ford teams due to the revision of the Mustang’s aerodynamic package two events ago.
“To be honest, in the race, I think we did the most with what we had,” said Davison.
“We didn’t quite have the race pace we needed or the balance, but at this track, you can swing it either way very easily.
“We’re always pre-empting into the race, ‘What do you think we need?’ and we are, at the moment – last few events – running a very different philosophy and a very different direction of car.
“Every event, we’re really trying to learn and unlock something, and we’re probably going to have to do the same [today].
“It’s not the way we really want to go racing now, but we need to keep learning and understanding.
“Qualifying [was] certainly disappointing but we’d all mutually agreed after the last few events where maybe we didn’t need to run an extra set and be in Q3 without tyres.
“Obviously, that was disappointing, knowing we should have been in there.”
Qualifying for Race 21 starts this morning at 09:45 local time/10:15 AEST.
Additional reporting: Mark Fogarty
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