Will Davison says that he needs a miracle in order to get back into the fight for the V8 Supercars Championship after enduring a disastrous run in the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.
Starting from pole position, the Davison/John McIntyre entry led for the first one and a half stints before the Kiwi mistook rubber build-up for a delaminating tyre and made an unscheduled pitstop.
What followed was a series of disasters that included further tyre problems, a drive-through for a pit infringement, a clash between McIntyre and his former car, the SP Tools Racing Ford, at The Cutting and a suspension-failure induced off at The Chase, leading to an eventual finishing position of 24th.
The result has seen Davison fall 470 point behind championship leader and Bathurst winner Jamie Whincup with just eight of the season’s 29 races remaining.
Reflecting on his torrid Sunday at Bathurst, Davison described the race as a “disaster”.
“To start on pole and not even feature in the top group of cars really hurts,” he said.
“John and I drove the wheels of our car but a combination of things out of our control put paid to our day.
“My big off could’ve had terrible consequences but thankfully I got away with it. A suspension issue severed the brake line and meant I had no brake pressure at the fastest part of the track.
“I’ll need a miracle now to feature in the title fight but we head to the Gold Coast in a week so we don’t have time to be down on ourselves. Mika (Salo) and I went well there last year and I know we both want the win.”
Davison led the standings for much of the early part of the season, winning six races and scoring nine podiums in the first 11 races. By contrast, he has been winless in the last 10 outings, scoring just three podiums.
By finishing third at Bathurst, Whincup’s team-mate Craig Lowndes moved to second in the standings, 161 points adrift of Whincup, while Davison’s FPR team-mate Mark Winterbottom is 188 behind the leader in third.
Despite TeamVodafone having won the last 11 races, both Whincup and Lowndes warned against righting off FPR’s chances post-Bathurst.
“It’s still definitely a four-horse race without doubt,” said Whincup.
“Don’t count out Frosty and Davo. They’ll regroup after Bathurst and I’m sure they’ll come out ‘crazy strong’ on the Gold Coast.”
Echoed Lowndes: “No doubt FPR will be disappointed with their Bathurst, they had two strong cars, got pole and didn’t get a result.
“TeamVodafone were in that position, in a sense (last year), and it really annoyed us.
“They’ll bounce back pretty hard. It’s far from a foregone conclusion.”
The championship continues with the Armor All Gold Coast 600 on October 19-21.
