Wildcard Davies shrugs off Caruso anger

Winton wildcard Shae Davies says fellow Nissan driver Michael Caruso’s response to the pair's clash in Race 10 was an overreaction.

Driving for Super2 team MW Motorsport, Davies made contact with Caruso on lap 50 of 67, with the resulting damage ending the race for the factory-backed driver.

Caruso then waited outside his car on the pit straight, gesturing towards Davies on his next lap past the stricken Altima.

The incident was later dismissed by stewards, but Davies felt the Nissan driver only made a public showing because Davies was a wildcard entrant.

“He races for Nissan full-time. He has a reputation to uphold,” Davies told Supercars.com of Caruso.

“To have a younger driver racing and looking to pass, it wouldn’t be a great situation (for him).

"But I’m there to race, just like any other driver. For me it was another car I wanted to get by.

“The DSA (Driving Standards Advisor Craig Baird) looked at it and as I expected there was no fault from myself. 

“I was cleared from that which is what I always thought.

“Michael carried on a little bit and made it look a bit worse than it was but I was pretty confident there’d be no issue.

“I’d been catching him for about five laps and had good pace and got my nose up the inside and went alongside. 

“He didn’t leave me enough room and unfortunately it made him contact.”

Michael Caruso

Davies was in the thick of the action across the weekend, earning a five-second post-race time penalty for an early hit on another Nissan driver, Simona De Silvestro.

Despite the mishaps, the 27-year-old says that the weekend was a positive one for himself and the team.

“I think going into the weekend we’d hope for a top 20 result and top 15 pace at various times we’d be very happy,” he added. 

“That’s what we achieved and I think it was a good weekend for MW Motorsport and myself.

“I think the familiarity of having my Super2 car as my chariot for the weekend made it like every other race meeting.

“I had the same engineer and crew and we went there with the objective of being as fast as we could.

“It’s a great initiative from Supercars. Some of the full-time drivers may not like it, but for us it’s a great opportunity to showcase the level Super2 is at. 

“For both parties, the young drivers and team managers, it’s a great initiative to identify talent and have the cream rise to the top.”

Davies added he feels the combination of wildcards and his Super2 campaign is the ideal preparation for an endurance drive or future full-time opportunity.

“I still think the ability to be racing with the Super2 season as well as this is a good thing,” he said. 

“It prepares you and keeps you ready, but for sure it’s an experience you can’t learn without doing it directly. 

“The pure fact we can get the opportunity to do wildcard events it prepares you for when you have a co-drive or full-season coming up. 

“There’s a couple of seats left with LDM, so it’ll have to be the right situation. 

“But I think I’ve shown enough quality to be a co-driver this season. Hopefully we can put something together.”

Davies will return to the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship for a second wildcard appearance at Queensland Raceway in August.