Davison shuts down DJR criticism

Will Davison has shut down criticism of the Shell V-Power Racing Team after the team’s mixed start to life in the Gen3 era.

The team is winless through four rounds in 2023, with Davison ninth and Anton De Pasquale 18th in the points.

One-lap pace — or lack thereof — has hurt the team, although both drivers were forces in the races at Symmons Plains.

Davison and De Pasquale gained a combined 44 positions across the three NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint.

Still, it’s a far cry to 2022, where both drivers had won a race and taken multiple pole positions by the midway point of the season.

Dick Johnson Racing is Ford’s homologation team in Supercars, and was armed with the development of the new Mustang.

Davison, who joined the team in 2021, looked ahead to next week’s test day as the team aims to end its podium drought.

“Of course this isn’t where we’re used to running,” Davison said in a team video.

“But people have been pretty brutal, pretty unfair, that don’t really understand the realities.

“We’re just head down — we don’t get to test often, we test next week and every time we roll these cars out, we're learning more.

“We’re very hit and miss, the cars are incredibly on edge, same for everyone.

"But it only takes the smallest imbalance where you start sliding the tyre and you’re just absolutely nowhere.”

There have been glimpses of speed; De Pasquale did take an ARMOR ALL Pole Position at Albert Park in March.

The team has been on a steady incline since it missed the top 10 in Newcastle, with Davison fifth in the second Tasmania race.

De Pasquale also raced from 22nd to ninth, the single biggest jump across all three Tasmania races.

Still, both cars were caught up in qualifying incidents with Tickford Racing's Cam Waters, with De Pasquale also suffering a clutch failure in Practice 2.

Speaking after Tasmania, De Pasquale highlighted that qualifying was an issue, and highlighted the impressive performance of Erebus and Triple Eight.

However, Davison reiterated that his team’s focus is internal, rather than looking to their rivals.

“It’s all new for us, it’s all new for everyone and we’re just being a bit inconsistent. But I think we are starting to make some sense of it now,” he added.

“We still need to keep improving but I’m encouraged by that. Clearly we’re up against it as well, the Fords against the Camaros.

“It’s very tough to compete with them at the moment. But we’re just focused on ourselves and I’m sure all of that will take care of itself.”

Teams will test next week ahead of the next round, the betr Darwin Triple Crown, on June 16-18.