Davison's dream come true

Will Davison has won Bathurst before, but this time is the first he has ever crossed the finish line and taken the chequered flag in one of the closest ever races at Mount Panorama.

The TEKNO driver won with the Holden Racing Team back in 2009, sharing the car with Garth Tander, but yesterday he was the one in the car at the end, ensuring it made it home and keeping unrelenting Shane van Gisbergen behind him while conserving fuel.

He avoided the major late race accidents involving Jamie Whincup, Scott McLaughlin and Tander to win by 0.15 seconds in controversial circumstances and helped give co-driver and team boss Jonathon Webb his first Bathurst win.

It was stuff of dreams for Davison – but the end was a nightmare for others. 

“2009, your first one’s special – in a huge team the with Holden Racing Team, that was very special but I wasn’t in the car at the finish,” Davison said.

“To finish in the car was something I’ve always dreamed of doing.

“And to be honest, don’t take away from what the team of Tekno has done, and Jono.

“We’re a really small team, we’ve got a fantastic crew, fantastic car.

“I think this is the first time since 2000, since Garry Rogers, a small time has won – it’s always been dominated by one of those teams with 60 or 70 people there at the track. Yesterday I think we had 10 in our team, so you don’t underestimate the task of what our team has achieved.”

That late incident was a race changer, with all three other cars contenders for the win. Whincup’s Red Bull team is appealing the result, but Davison isn’t concerned with the Peter Brock Trophy in his hands. He spoke to media after the victory at Luna Park in Sydney today.

“We’re not nervous at all, they’ll appeal to maybe get something changed but in terms of our win we know that’s final. We have got the trophy there and we won the race,” he said.

“We were told with 12 laps to go that we were the leaders so I wasn’t looking at Jamie, I wasn’t racing him, I was racing the guy behind me. We’re not stressed.” 

His take on the incident – which he narrowly avoided on Pit Straight with a handful of laps to go – and how his ex-teammate Tander may feel today?

“It’s racing – it’s not the first time it’s not the last time.

“You leave it all out there on the track and Garth’s pretty opportunistic, and it’s rewarded him in lots of great results over the years. He could’ve lifted in those cars and he decided to keep it flat – you go for glory and unfortunately contact was made, so they all played a part in the incident, to be honest.”