WILL DAVISON:

COAST WEEKEND: Those final few exhilarating Bathurst laps - fuel running out, series leader Shane Van Gisbergen tailing you hard. What was going through your mind?

It doesn’t matter who it is, let alone Shane, you are going to get some taps from behind. To be honest, you try and simplify things, try and make sure you drive four or five of the best laps of your life, not let the pressure get to you and try to stay calm.

You know Shane is going to throw it up the inside and to be honest I had to make that decision in my own head about how much I wanted it. If he was going to stick it down the inside I was willing to get spun around. I was going to do whatever it took to stay in that lead.

CW: Sweeter than your first Bathurst win in 2009? WD: You don’t want to undersell 2009. My first victory at Bathurst, with a factory team, I was a younger guy in a Holden car. There was huge pressure and expectation and when you get it once and then go back years and years and it’s cruel to you and you’ve got all the hard luck stories, you realise you may not get the opportunity again.

But you work hard and hope and dream and I did try and cherish every single second that second time. I’m not going to say it was better but it was different.

CW: You didn’t cross the finish line personally in 2009 when codriving with Garth Tander but you did this time, how good was that? WD: To be in the car for the actual last part that wins the race is something I have always dreamed of and hoped I would cope with and rise to the occasion if I was ever given the opportunity.

With five laps to go my engineer was telling me “Mate, you are leading this race – you have to pull your s--together and you have to dig deep”. You have an engineer screaming at you not to go full throttle and save fuel so it was a pretty stressful situation.

You are thinking “This is everything I have worked for, don’t stuff up” – but more than that it is get your teeth stuck in, let’s grab this challenge, let’s not shy away from it and that’s what I did.

I enjoyed those last few laps instead of being scared or intimidated by it.

It was just bring it on, let’s have a crack and it was a really memorable finish because the pressure was so high, I was juggling fuel.

When I had crossed the line in front it was definitely the greatest elation I had ever felt inside a race car ... sheer relief and sheer joy.

CW: How are things between you and Jamie Whincup. His team is appealing the 15 second penalty which cost him the race? WD: He was at my house last night. I wasn’t in the incident. There is absolutely no tension between us and them. It is disappointing it has taken the shine off the victory a little.

But there is no drama from our side, we’re not concerned. We both feel for each other – he’s said to me “Mate, it’s your win, you deserve it” and I’ve said to him “You guys were the dominant car all weekend and that’s a bad circumstance”.

Jamie is Jamie - he puts it all on the line, he has a crack.

CW: How are you going to come down from the Bathurst win with your small-budget Tekno team and switch on for your home race? WD: Just like we do for every race. All the events are pretty gruelling. For such a little team we are still completely up on cloud nine at the moment.

You’ve got to enjoy it. But the car needs to be prepared for what’s going to be a brutal event here next week. Switching on is pretty easy around the concrete jungle of Surfers Paradise.

It’s always a lot of fun and after a massive high and plenty of talking after a Bathurst win, getting back into the car and back to what we do is the most refreshing thing.

It’s been a massive week but you just have to come back to earth, get into the routines and training. You have to quickly flick the switch. CW: How’s the GC600 game plan shaping up, can you give us any hot tips? WD: The game plan for the GC600 is to attack and enjoy. It will be the same as all year – race hard for the podium and play it smart when we need to.

CW: Good to be home? WD: It’s awesome being a home race this week – you don’t have to travel, don’t have to pack a bag.

I definitely needed a few days to recover. It’s the best place to come after what’s been a massive week. It’s a great party atmosphere here…it’s a wild circuit.

It’s very different. We are going to throw the car around the curves, we have to scrape concrete walls.

In a way it’s similar to Bathurst in that there are no room for errors but we are keen to get back in the car and keep that momentum going. And it’s great to be in your own bed.

We all love this event, we all embrace it. To win in front of this crowd, I don’t know what the word is, but it’s certainly fun.