There was enough self-belief, and this time, there was enough petrol for Ford’s Will Davison to post his first V8 Supercar win in two and a half years at the Clipsal 500 on Sunday.
As defending champion and Saturday race winner Jamie Whincup fell victim to a misfiring engine, Davison powered to his first victory since Bathurst in 2009 and an early V8 championship lead.
Davison had suffered a heartbreaking defeat to Whincup on Saturday, having to save his last wisps of fuel to finish the race after giving up the lead just three turns from the finish.
Confident his time would come, Davison’s clock finally chimed as he manoeuvred neatly past former Holden team-mate Garth Tander midway through, and held on to end his long winning drought.
The 29-year-old’s move to Holden Racing Team brought a stunning breakthrough in 2009, before a shocking year in 2010 and his subsequent departure for Ford Performance Racing.
Davison admitted he had second-guessed his driving ability at times through 2010, and as his winless run dragged on.
“In 2010 I did (second-guess myself) for sure, that was just an absolute nightmare,” Davison said.
“But throughout last year, it proved to me things will come right, and certainly in the back half of last year there were certainly a lot of races I was in contention to win.
“As long as you’re a contender every week, your confidence will build … and everything was great this weekend.”
Davison led home a FPR 1-2, beating team-mate Mark Winterbottom.
Tander was third, with Whincup fourth.
Davison’s victory, following his second to Whincup on Saturday, gives him the V8 series lead after the opening event of the year.
It also gives Ford renewed hope of challenging Whincup’s all-conquering Holden outfit Team Vodafone for this year’s championship.
Whincup, who started on pole, took the lead from Tander on lap eight around the Adelaide street circuit.
But he struck trouble 37 laps into the 78-lap race, sliding from first to fourth as he complained of an engine miss.
Whincup’s Team Vodafone team-mate Craig Lowndes had an early setback to his championship hopes after being docked points for an incident in Saturday’s opening race.
Stewards confirmed Lowndes, who finished fourth on Saturday, had been penalised 25 championship points for careless driving following an incident involving rival Todd Kelly.
Lowndes finished fifth on Sunday.
Holden driver James Courtney had a wretched weekend, picking up just a handful of points after crashing on Saturday and struggling badly with mechanical issues into 25th on Sunday.
More than 82,000 spectators attended Sunday’s race – bringing the total attendance for the four days of racing in Adelaide to more than 263,000.
The next round of the V8 championship will be in Tasmania from March 30 to April 1.
