Low-blow sledge sparks driver war
WILL Davison has refused to accept that Shane van Gisbergen’s press conference sledge was a gaffe, with the Ford driver claiming his Holden rival intentionally landed a “low blow” in a declaration of war.
Breaking his silence on being dismissed as the slow Dick Johnson Racing driver in a remark that van Gisbergen made while he was sitting next to him, Davison declared he “would not back down from the fight” after revealing he had accepted the championship leader’s invitation to war.
“He meant what he said,”
Davison said. “He said he didn’t mean it but he knew what he was saying. It was a low blow.”
In a jaw-dropping statement that van Gisbergen has since claimed “came out wrong”, the Holden star belittled Davison by inferring he was not as good as fellow DJR driver Anton De Pasquale.
“It was good just to be competitive,” van Gisbergen said following his race 23 win.
“But the good DJR car wasn’t upfront, so we don’t know if we are really that fast. But …” Van Gisbergen stopped mid-sentence when he realised Davison was sitting a metre away from him.
“F...,” Davison said. “He has me off at one and then writes me off at the press conference.”
In an exclusive interview with News Corp, Davison declared that he would not be backing down from the fight after revealing his team was at war with the Red Bull Ampol Racing team.
“I just laughed it off but there was a bit of tension there,” Davison said.
“But that is all good. It is healthy stuff and there is passion there. We want to race hard and I love racing hard. It was a low blow, and I am sure he meant it, but I wasn’t shocked or offended by it. It is all just part of the behind-the-scenes game that is going on. I am not going to back away from the fight.”
Davison said van Gisbergen made the remark because DJR had applied the blowtorch to Red Bull since the season resumed in Sydney.
“We have been applying the pressure,” Davison said.
“As a team we are working great together and at the end of the day we have had the faster cars. As a team we couldn’t be closer, and I think they are trying to separate us as a team.
“They won’t have any luck because we work together as a team. We are always trying to help each other to achieve the ultimate goal. We both have bloody quick cars and I applaud Anton when he has the quicker car.”
Sitting third in the championship, Davison has his eyes set on overtaking Red Bull driver Jamie Whincup to take out second place.
“I won’t do anything to be critical of what Shane has done on track because he has had an amazing year,” Davison said. “But some of his off-track stuff … It is because we have put the pressure on leading into the big one.”
The heavyweight war resumes at Sydney Motorsport Park on Saturday with the Sydney Super Sprint.