Davison eyes Townsville after winless Darwin

A "gutted" Will Davison has cast his gaze to Townsville after a record-breaking Darwin round went without victory.

Davison walked away with two podiums in Darwin, having reset the practice/qualifying lap record twice.

He was beaten to Race 16 victory by teammate Anton De Pasquale, having started on pole.

Davison did play a key role in the Shell V-Power Racing Team one-two, holding off Shane van Gisbergen.

It was van Gisbergen, however, who scuppered Davison’s Race 18 chances after a late clash.

Davison loomed as a favourite to win the finale, having taken on four tyres before the late restart.

However, a van Gisbergen divebomb dropped Davison down the order, before he fought back to fifth.

Van Gisbergen was penalised over the incident, Davison later claiming it put a stop to his charge.

Speaking on Supercars’ Cool Down Lap podcast, Davison was pleased with his speed, but frustrated not to be able to convert it into victory.

"Definitely, massively," he replied when asked if the weekend was a missed opportunity.

"Part of me is really happy, because we had such good speed.

"I feel like I executed some things really well, but I’m gutted, really gutted not to get a win.

"But that’s racing, as they say."

Davison raced to second in Race 17 behind Cam Waters, having overhauled David Reynolds at the start.

The two-time Bathurst winner’s efforts didn’t go unnoticed or unrewarded, with Shell V-Power Racing Team now leading the teams’ championship.

Davison is now within a round’s worth of points of van Gisbergen heading to Townsville.

He is also just 80 points behind De Pasquale, and six points behind third placed Waters.

The veteran, who clocked 500 starts on the Darwin Saturday, scored a podium in the last Townsville race last July.

He famously won in Townsville in 2013, and is a fan of the aggressive style circuit.

"I’m looking forward to going to Townsville," said Davison, who won Race 11 in Perth.

"Street track, pretty different to here.

"Love going there, love thrashing it over the kerbs and racing there.

"We’ll see what we can do."

The 2022 season will resume at the NTI Townsville 500. Purchase your tickets now.