Supercar surprise for Davison

Will Davison grew up dreaming of Formula One and hearing about the successes of his grandfather Lex, who won the Australian Grand Prix in the 1950s.

The third-generation racer never made it to F1, but it didn't seem to matter a bit when he broke through for his first V8 Supercar win at Eastern Creek yesterday.

He made the big breakthrough when he won the second of three heats, but then had to battle immense pressure and a hobbled car to take the DJR team's first win since 2001.

“I didn't cry but I was completely stunned inside when I went over the line,” Davison said. “The last race was tough. I was just hanging on. To beat these guys is just fantastic.”

He admitted he still owes a bundle from his failed attempt on Formula One — believed to be more than $500,000 — but was not thinking about the past as he looked to a bright future.

Winterbottom should have been closer at Eastern Creek, but blundered in qualifying and did not have quite enough to challenge for the overall win.

“We didn't do enough on Saturday and we paid for it,” he said. “But I'm still on the podium.”

Defending champion Garth Tander also made it to the podium after a mixed weekend, which netted pole position and a win, before a major setback.

“We made some changes for the second heat and the car was not that flash,” Tander said.

“We also saved our best tyres for the last race and that hurt us."

“We had to fight through.”

Even so, he rebounded from a disaster at the season opener in Adelaide to move up to eighth in the championship standings.

The series is still led by Jamie Whincup, who was fifth in Sydney after a clean sweep at the Clipsal 500 with his Vodafone Falcon.

The top 10 in Sydney included Rick Kelly, who stayed out of trouble on the way to fourth, and old sparring partners Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife.

The next event for V8 Supercar teams is the AGP, when they will race three times, before the championship resumes at Hamilton in New Zealand from April 18-20.

The top ten

Championship points (after two of 14 championship rounds)

1. Jamie Whincup (Ford)...........540

2. Rick Kelly (Holden)................432

3. Lee Holdsworth (Holden).....426

4. Mark Winterbottom (Ford).382

5. Will Davison (Ford).................356

6. Craig Lowndes (Ford)...........339

7. Greg Murphy (Holden)..........330

8. Garth Tander (Holden).........326

9. Mark Skaife (Holden)............322

10. Todd Kelly (Holden).............308