Davison: I have unfinished business

Alex Davison has declared he has unfinished business in his return to the full-time Supercars grid with Team Sydney.

The 40-year-old was announced on Wednesday as James Courtney’s permanent replacement in the #19 Holden, which is now backed by jerky company Local Legends.

Davison has had various stints as a regular in the sport: in 2005 with Perkins Engineering, 2009-11 with Stone Brothers Racing and 2013 with then Tickford customer Charlie Schwerkolt Racing.

His last two full-time campaigns netted respectable championship placings of 11th and 13th, but he’s had to settle for co-driving duties ever since – besides a two-event solo cameo for Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.

The opportunity to return comes with a point to prove.

“I’m at a different stage of my career but the hunger is still there for sure,” Davison told Supercars.com.

“I finished in Supercars earlier than I would have liked. I felt like my best results were in front of me.

“There’s a lot of ingredients that need to be right apart from just the driver to get results in this category… I know when I have the package around me that I can be a front-running driver.

“If I thought I personally wasn’t up to the task anymore, I wouldn’t be bothering.”

Davison though is realistic about his initial expectations, knowing it will take time to extract the best from both himself and his ZB Commodore – especially with no pre-event preparation.

It was only a week ago that the full-time opportunity was floated, having already been in co-driver discussions, and he met Team Sydney staff and its car for the first time yesterday.

“Absolutely I didn’t see it coming for 2020,” he said.

“I spent all summer trying to get a Carrera Cup deal together, which didn’t eventuate.

“I prepared myself for a season of not too much racing with potentially just the endurance races for the year and very quickly this deal came up.”

Davison was 23rd in opening practice at Albert Park, but was believed to be on a lap good enough for 17th if not for the time being wiped for exceeding track limits.

“A lot to take in obviously doing the learning process at a race meeting, but I didn't feel totally at sea, I felt reasonably comfortable,” he noted.

With Triple Eight equipment and his and team owner Jonathon Webb’s vast experience, Davison believes progress is attainable.

“I’ve been in enough different teams, both front-running and in situations where it hasn’t been possible to be competitive, to see the difference,” said Davison, the older brother of 23Red driver Will.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that I know how to fix things straightaway but at least I have a reasonable level of experience in knowing roughly how things need to be to work and Jon is in the same boat.”

Davison’s teammate Chris Pither was 14th in Practice 1 in a positive start for the squad, who are now due to relocate to Sydney after next month’s Tyrepower Tasmania Super400.