Resurgent Davison frustrated by Pye incident

Will Davison hoped Scott Pye would leave him more room in their early-race clash in Townsville.

Pye was sent into the wall on lap 1 following contact with Davison at Turn 3.

Pye was out on the spot for the third time in four events.

Davison, meanwhile, slid into the Turn 5 barriers before returning to the lane.

It kicked off a spirited recovery to seventh for Davison, who was 24th after the restart.

However, the end result did little to alleviate Davison's frustration over the early clash.

“Third position, lap one of 250 [kilometres],” Davison said.

“Scott was on my inside but he just drove me straight into the fence on the exit.

“I couldn’t do anything, I was hoping he’d leave me a bit of room.

“He drove me into the fence, and ultimately he put himself in the wall.”

Davison had little idea over the damage to his car when he sat in the barriers.

He bolted to the lane and his car was patched up.

From there, Davison was on a mission, peeling off overtake after overtake.

Davison returns to the race after repairs

For Davison, it was a case of what could have been, with teammate Anton De Pasquale second.

“Sitting in the fence there… you don’t know how much damage you’ve sustained,” he said.

“You automatically think the day’s over.

“I saw the Safety Car was called, I got back as quick as I could to stay on the lead lap and assess the damage.

“Once we got underway, we had to do a full stint with yesterday’s tyre on the right front.

“I knew it was bent, it was pulling left and doing weird things.

“What could’ve been. The car was sensational, with some damage as well.”

Davison is now 360 points behind series leader Shane van Gisbergen, who won the race.