Davison’s doubters are Red and buried
WILL Davison always feared his time at Tekno Autosports would reach an abrupt end but says he was never put off his new team by their predecessor’s diabolical 2017.
The Supercars veteran, who is based on the Gold Coast, was left with an uncertain future as it became clear late last year that he and Tekno would not renew their combination.
Davison won two races, including the Bathurst 1000 en route to fifth in the championship for Tekno in 2016 but plummeted to 15th last year with no visits to the podium.
“In a small team like that, everything has got to work. They are not funded by manufacturers, the sponsorship money is very low,” Davison said.
“Things for them were very difficult last year financially.
“Even what we achieved in ’16 with the Bathurst win and fifth in the championship, the financial realities were still what they were and things were very tight even then.
“I was pretty certain early that there probably wouldn’t be an opportunity there (to continue), although they wanted to. They just needed the sponsorship money to do it.”
That money never arrived and so Davison was momentarily shuffled onto the scrapheap and replaced by up-andcomer Jack Le Brocq, who offered the lure of bringing GoGetta backing with him.
But it wasn’t long before the 2009 runner-up picked up a gig, with new team 23Red Racing.
The single-car Ford outfit were borne out of minnows Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, who endured an embarrassing campaign last year in outdated machinery.
Davison, though, insists those struggles did not make him cautious and is “thrilled” to be taking his career into a 13th full-time season this year.
“They (LDM) were surviving to get to the end of last year and these plans were always in place for this year so they weren’t spending money on last year’s cars,” he said.
“They knew there was a whole new chapter this year particularly with Phil’s (new owner Phil Munday’s) involvement in the team.”
The Adelaide 500 is this weekend, with a race each on Saturday and Sunday.