There were mixed emotions for Will Davison after another long-awaited drought-breaking win went begging.
The Shell V-Power Racing Team driver twice started races from pole position at the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400.
In the last outing, Race 9 of the Repco Supercars Championship, Davison didn’t skip away from team-mate Anton De Pasquale. In fact, the #17 pilot struggled in the early going.
Davison would pit on Lap 5, one rotation of the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit after De Pasquale got out of the dirty air.
Meanwhile, primary rivals Chaz Mostert and Shane van Gisbergen ran slightly longer.
The #97 Red Bull Ampol Racing entry would pit on Lap 6 while eventual race winner Mostert in the #25 Mobil 1 Optus Racing car pitted on Lap 7.
In doing so, Mostert executed an overcut on his rivals to take the effective lead over van Gisbergen and Davison.
In the end, Davison would come home second after van Gisbergen suffered a tyre failure with three laps to go.
Still, the Dick Johnson Racing driver was nearly six seconds in arrears of the race-winning Walkinshaw Andretti United entry.
“I’m feeling of course frustrated, but we’ve done what we can,” said Davison.
“All in all, two poles, two podiums, three front rows, there’s plenty of positives to take out of the weekend.
“It’s not through a lack of trying, we took a few big swings at the car set-up then. I knew really early on at the start I was in a bit of trouble. I was super loose with the car.
“We pitted a little bit earlier than we wanted for the hard tyres and just didn’t have enough pace.
“I felt like I drove as good as I could, and obviously saw Shane have a big lock-up. I knew his left front tyre would be hurting at that moment, so I just tried to put the pressure on as much as I could and then obviously his tyre blew.
“A couple of laps at the end, we got the fastest lap of the race by a mile. It’s not really how you mean to do it, but the car got better at the end. Lots to look through.”
Both of Dick Johnson Racing’s Ford Mustang have been quick, three pole position awards at Albert Park evidence of that.
However, in-race, both cars have struggled to keep up with their rivals.
“It’s crazy, we’re so fast over a lap,” said Davison.
“The car doesn’t feel bad, but we’re half a second, a second sometimes, off these guys.
“I don’t know why we seem to drop two seconds. Not sure. It’s basically just braking. We just can’t brake as we need. In the first sector is where we seem to be struggling.”
De Pasquale is best placed in the drivers’ championship in second, albeit 144 points adrift of van Gisbergen.
Davison holds fourth in the standings, 181 points in arrears, with Mostert perched between the Shell team-mates.
Supercars resumes its season at the Bunnings Trade Perth SuperNight across April 30-May 1.
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