Davison confident of strong showing

Erebus Motorsport's great hope Will Davison is confident he can haul the fledgling team towards the top of the V8 Supercars heap if fast-tracked crucial engine development starts to come on line.

The former Bathurst Champion and long-time FPR and HRT star was signed by the young Mercedes-Benz outfit for last year as the driver that could take the five stars to competitiveness in the world's toughest touring car category.

With mixed results Davison has managed to live up to his reputation as a driver capable of man-handling even the hardest of V8 Supercars as Erebus enters the third-year of its program.

The team has made no secret that engine development and producing drive has been a critical part of their search for results. A massive in-house program has been focussing on that single area.

Davison gave the team welcome reward for the thousands of man-hours back at HQ with a sterling performance in practice at the Tyrepower Tasmanian SuperSprint today, headed only by former team-mate Mark Winterbottom in his brand new Falcon FG X.

The short Launceston circuit was where Davison produced one of his best results of last year, outside of his only podium of 2014 at the Castrol Townsville 400.

But with just 0.3 seconds separating first and 12th today Davison is fully aware milliseconds will mean the difference in qualifying for tomorrow's two sprint races.

"I'm not going to make any statements, that's for sure. But first and foremost you need the potential for your car to be in the mix when you get it right, and that's all we're focusing on," Davison said.

"We're working on the potential of our car to get it into that top five bunch, but then we need consistency.

"We are generally in a pretty good spot today, but we need consistency this year, that's what we're focusing on. The outright speed is another really important thing we've lacked. Even when we've got the car feeling really nice we might be fifth to tenth or seventh to tenth.

"Today it felt quite good, the balance was good and we were saying we've taken a genuine step forward - but we've got to make sure it's not just a track specific thing and that we can carry it through to when it counts, tomorrow.

"So, yeah, I can (win) but so can 10 or 15 other blokes. That's the beauty of the sport. I'm too nervous to make big statements in this game right now but I'd love to think we can be in the mix."

But after a dominant performance at the Australian Grand Prix a fortnight ago many believe Winterbottom is the man to beat in Tasmania with all four Prodrive prepared Falcons in the top ten in practice at Symmons Plains.

"Tomorrow's going to be intense -it's going to be that one-tenth of a second if you get on the right side of it you could be pole, you get on the wrong side of it you could be mid-pack," Winterbottom said.

"It's one of the toughest places but it's one of the most enjoyable for that reason. We went quick today ... but tomorrow's going to be tough."

The most improved was Kiwi Andre Heimgartner, the rookie who is leading SuperBlack Racing's first-year assault on V8 Supercars when he was tenth for the day.

Lowndes' third place was one of the most unusual when he spent as much time off the track as on it in the final practice session but then suddenly bobbed up out of nowhere at the end.

He and team-mate Jamie Whincup have smashed all comers in Tasmania in recent times.

"We'll go back and have a look at where it actually is in the microsectors, but the car was nice, just pushing the limits around here, it's very easy to go over the line," said Lowndes. "Luckily we didn't beach the car and got the car back and the boys weren't too stressed."

Scott Pye, who replaced Marcos Ambrose in the DJR Team Penske entry, floated up and down the sheets for most of the day but was rarely above 15th as he searches for a groove in his return. Pye was 18th and 20th in each practice session.

Garth Tander came home fourth in last practice, the first of the Walkinshaw Commodores, with Fabian Coulthard, David Reynolds, Shane van Gisbergen, James Courtney, Lee Holdsworth and Andre Heimgartner completing the top 10.

The V8 Supercars return for practice tomorrow morning at 11.20am, ahead of back to back qualifying and two races.