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After dusting off the cobwebs at Bathurst, Shell V-Power Racing Team driver Will Davison says his focus has shifted to winning races.
It was a solid return to the Dick Johnson Racing camp after more than a decade away, recording a podium finish on his full-time return to the Repco Supercars Championship.
Davison went on to claim seventh in the second race of the Mount Panorama 500, leaving the season-opener in fourth overall with 225 points.
Ahead of him sits championship leader Shane van Gisbergen with 300 points to his credit after a sweep of the two-race weekend for Red Bull Ampol Racing.
Chaz Mostert of Mobil 1 Appliances Online Racing is second on 267 points while Irwin Racing’s Mark Winterbottom lies third with 231 points to his name.
Following a strong showing in the first event, albeit blighted by an ergonomic issue, Davison is now targeting his first win since the 2016 Bathurst 1000.
“We’ve got to, certainly now, focus on winning races, hunting those guys down,” Davison told Speedcafe.com.
“We’ve got [Bathurst] out of the way, which I wanted to just dust the cobwebs, make sure I’ve got some points in the bank in that process.
“It’s very, very easy to bin a car at a first-up event in an unfamiliar car trying to be a hero. Very, very easy.
“We’re obviously pushing hard for results, because that’s what we’re here to do. But you’re on that fine-tooth edge all the time between being too conservative and hanging out of the concrete.”
The coronavirus pandemic sidelined Davison for much of 2020 following the demise of 23Red Racing.
The 38-year-old returned to the championship later in the year, joining Cameron Waters as a co-driver in the #6 Monster Energy Racing entry for the Bathurst 1000 in which they finished second.
Davison said he learned plenty in his first weekend back at Mount Panorama in a Ford Mustang, but now with Dick Johnson Racing.
“I said, at the start of the weekend, ‘I just want a straight car, get a bunch of knowledge, take out a couple of top sevens’, was actually my words,” said Davison.
“I’m really happy with the inroads we made. We learnt so much from when I rolled out in that first lap Friday to Sunday.
“It’s amazing. Just how uncomfortable and unfamiliar everything felt. The steps we made, to feeling really good in quali, to then struggling a bit in race trim and making changes.”
Davison is optimistic about his chances for the forthcoming event at Sandown International Motor Raceway this weekend and circuits to come beyond that.
The Gold Coaster has five career Supercars podiums at Sandown, including a win in 2009.
Team-mate Anton De Pasquale lies 16th in the 2021 drivers’ championship after crashing in Race 1 while Dick Johnson Racing sit fourth in the teams’ championships.
Race 3 of the Repco Supercars Championship takes place tomorrow.
