The Shell V-Power Racing Team has confirmed an electrical short caused Will Davison’s car to smoke dramatically in Repco Supercars Championship qualifying at Sandown.
Davison’s Mustang was seen smoking in the closing stages of Qualifying for Race 25 on Sunday, with the DJR driver pulling into the pits.
Team boss, Ben Croke, revealed a short on the point where the data cable is plugged in caused the issue on the #17.
The team changed the battery and Davison was able to return to the track for the second of the back-to-back qualifying sessions.
“It was just a problem with one of the power cables in the car,” Croke told Speedcafe.com.
“Smoked itself up and became a bit of an issue in the car for him.
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“He came in, they fixed the problem, changed the battery and it was a good, nice, calm effort to get the problem rectified, and a good job to get back out there for the second session.
“As they’ve disconnected it [the power cable], the plug failed,” Croke added of the source of the electrical short.
“One of the boys disconnected it and when it went to leave, it failed.”
A wiring loom on the driver’s side of the car was burnt out and will have to be replaced ahead of Race 25 at 13:05 AEST.
“There’s a few cables that we’ll change now but for the most part it’s all good,” added Croke.
Engulfed by smoke, Davison opened his door while transiting pit lane before escaping the cabin when he pulled up to the DJR garage.
Having held onto 11th with an early banker in Q1, he then went on to claim pole position for Race 26 in the second session.
The 39-year-old reported he was okay, with the rush of adrenaline helping him to put it on pole.
“I haven’t come up for air yet, literally,” he said immediately after the session.
“That was like a bad cigar, not that I smoke.
“It was obviously a pretty stressful first session, I just wanted to get it back because I didn’t want to cause a red but I was struggling to breathe for about half a lap there.
“We got it in and yeah, this is a good way to repay the boys.
“I knew we had a good time in it and so that just fuelled the motivation to really dig in and rag it.”
Following Race 25, Davison will be joined on the front row of the grid by Shane van Gisbergen for Race 26 at 16:20 local time/AEST.
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