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Davison confident in Erebus' 'new phase'

15 May 2015
Will believes Erebus is forging its own identity as it pushes to become a more consistent front-runner and back up results at Winton.
3 mins by James Pavey
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Will Davison insists Erebus Motorsport's improvement in form is the beginning of a new phase, as the team forges its own identity after transforming from Stone Brothers Racing for 2013.

A year on from earning its first win, the team returns to Winton Motor Raceway this weekend, boosted by success in Perth as Davison registered another victory - and the 2009 Bathurst 1000 winner and Championship runner-up knows there is more to come.

Although some questioned Davison's decision to move across to Erebus for 2014 and beyond, he has always said growing with a developing team was the most rewarding thing he could do in V8 Supercars.

And though there were sparks of improvement last year with Davison's podium in Townsville and fourth place finish with brother Alex at Bathurst - he says it's different this time.

"I'm excited about where it's going," Davison told v8supercars.com.au.

"That was phase one of the team last year - the phasing out of Stone Brothers Racing into Erebus, Betty understanding the business.

"We're in phase two now where it is completely Erebus. We're setting ourselves up for the future as a team."

Earlier this season, Davison's car was improved with engine and chassis upgrades, which seem to have made significant gains. Davison said physical changes were constantly being made to the cars as the team pushed forward, as the feeling in the garage also evolved.

"A lot has changed in the team since that phase last year, which I still would call the SBR/Erebus era - it was quite a different culture and environment to what we have got now," he explained.

"The downwards part of late last year helped set us up for change, to be honest, and I think we're just coming out of that now and forging our own brand of Erebus and our own way of wanting to do it.

"The team was always run as Stone Brothers - which we all know has its merits for sure - but it's coming out of its skin now as it's own identity.

"We're just in the infancy of that right now, to be honest with you."

Davison said this weekend's NP300 Navara Winton SuperSprint was an important one for the team, and while he stacked up 20th overall in Friday practice yesterday, believed he and engineer Luke Mason made progress over the two hours on track.

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"We took a lot out of the day - we obviously ran a pretty poor soft tyre in the first session and certainly weren't as far off in the second session as it looks,'' he said.

"I'm pretty confident already on a direction we want to try for the morning so as per Perth, where we changed this drastically on Friday night, let's hope we find the solution."

The win has undoubtedly been a confidence booster for the team, but Davison was coy about making bold predictions for the weekend, when there could be some surprises.

"I honestly don't know - I know what I want to achieve but I'm not going to say anything.

"I'm desperate to have a similar performance at Winton as we have the last couple of events.

"Although Lee [Holdsworth] won there last year... a lot has changed. It's going to be fascinating, a big challenge."

Erebus has Campbell Little at the circuit for the first time this weekend after he was announced as a consultant for the team, to assist its sporting and technical operations. Little will be engineering Ash Walsh this weekend in the absence of regular engineer Wes McDougall.

Sixth was Davison's best result last year at the track, which his engineer said demanded a well-balanced car that is gentle on tyres.

The V8 Supercars hit the track this morning for practice at 9.35am, before back-to-back qualifying at 11.55am and the two 60km races.

Stay tuned this weekend for all the V8 Supercars action:

**Saturday -**Race 10: 13.50, Race 11: 16.20, FOX SPORTS 506Highlights: 20.30 ONE, 24.00 Ten.

Sunday - Race 12: 13.15, FOX SPORTS 506Highlights: 16.00 Ten, 20.30 ONE.

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