Shell V-Power Racing Team Supercars driver Will Davison says that there are clear differences between his #17 Dick Johnson Racing Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaros in the 2023 Gen3 Supercars field.

Davison recorded a third-place after starting fifth in the first of three races at Darwin’s Indigenous round at Hidden Valley behind the Camaros of Broc Feeney and race winner, Team 18’s Mark Winterbottom, who inherited the lead after Cam Waters’ Mustang burst into flames on Lap 4.

“It’s very, very interesting this Gen3,” said Davison.

“It’s highly talked about and publicised this year that it’s been a bit dry on the Ford side of things, so I obviously was genuinely a bit gutted to see Cam’s thing go out.

“You know, because you want to give back to Ford – they’re putting a lot in and it’s been tough, so that wasn’t good to see.”

Davison came home 0.6s off the rear bumper of the Triple Eight Race Engineering Camaro of Feeney, who was tucked up behind Winterbottom.

“It’s interesting to race amongst those cars,” Davison said.

“There’s still definitely some differences amongst the cars.

“I still had my challenges, just strengths and weaknesses, but certainly was interesting to sit there and see the differences and, and, yeah, we’ve got lots of we’re still working on from our end, and that’s all focused on at the moment.

When asked to elaborate, the #17 Mustang driver was careful with his words not to emphatically enter into the parity debate – which became a talking point following a Ford Australia release following the Darwin round, with CEO of DJR David Noble calling immediate parity action ahead of the next round in Townsville on July 7-9.

Davison did confirm that the difference was “probably more make to make” than between competing Supercars teams.

“It’s not necessarily a bad thing,” he said.

“But yeah, certainly the engine characteristics are different, whether that’s – not saying better or worse – it’s just interesting.

“I mean, we know we’ve got different gear-cuts; you can hear it off the start with [Brad Jones Racing Camaro of Bryce] Fullwood you know – one gear he accelerates, then you hear his slow gear-shift and you get back.

“Our top end speed’s good and you’ve just seen some other areas where we don’t accelerate as well, so, it’s just interesting when you’re racing, where the strengths and weaknesses are.”