Grove Racing has confirmed Will Davidson as Lee Holdsworth’s race engineer for the forthcoming Repco Supercars Championship season.
Davidson, who hails from Sydney, has not previously worked in the Supercars paddock but is an experienced engineer in single-seaters.
He comes to the team off the back of a four-year stint in the FIA Formula E World Championship with the team formerly known as BMW i Andretti Motorsport as its performance engineer.
Prior to that, Davidson worked in the Formula 1 feeder GP2 Series as well as the GP3 Series and Formula Renault 3.5 Series for Christian Horner’s Arden International.
Having spent the last decade and a half in Europe, the engineer is back Down Under for a new challenge.
A reshuffle within the Grove Racing ranks has seen Dilan Talabani shift into a performance engineer position, with Davidson taking up the vacant race engineer role.
Tuesday’s pre-season test at Winton Motor Raceway marked the first chance for Davidson and Holdsworth to work together.
Speaking with Speedcafe.com, Holdsworth said he was amused to learn the name of his new engineer, which is almost identical to Dick Johnson Racing driver Will Davison.
“He’s a really knowledgable guy, he’s really smart, doesn’t really have any experience working on a Supercar, but I feel like he’s got everything that you need in an engineer,” said Holdsworth.
“I think he’s only going to get better and better. I’m really happy with him.”
Although Davidson has no prior Supercars experience, Holdsworth said that won’t be to his detriment.
With no preconceived ideas, Holdsworth said that could work in their favour.
“Sometimes having someone who has been involved in the sport time has set ideas,” said Holdsworth.
“It’s nice to have an open book ready to write in and jot down everything we learn and make the most of that and not have any preconceived ideas on set-ups.”
Nevertheless, the pair will have experienced duo David Reynolds and Alistair McVean on the sister car to lean on should they need to.
“Dave is a brilliant driver, he’s got Alistair who’s a brilliant engineer,” Holdsworth added.
“Those guys work really well together and have obviously been working together for a long time.
“We learn a lot from them. The best thing is, the cars, we were jumping from one to another and saying the same feedback – the cars were very similar.
“That’s a real positive for us. I’m enjoying working with the team, they’re a good bunch of people, and I’m excited about the year. I think it’ll be a good journey.”
Grove Racing will get its 2022 campaign underway at the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight on March 4-6.
CLICK HERE for the full 2022 Supercars driver/engineer line-up
