Davison declares it’s ‘time to win trophies’ before Tassie SuperSprint

He’s sixth on the standings, but a race win this year continues to elude him. Will Davison hopes to fix that at this weekend’s Tasmania SuperSprint at Symmons Plains.

Will Davison celebrates a pole position at the Sydney SuperNight, the most recent Supercars round before this weekend’s Tasmania SuperSprint. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)

Will Davison has declared it’s time for the Dick Johnson Racing team to ‘step up and get trophies’ as they seek a breakthrough Supercars win for the year at this weekend’s Tasmania SuperSprint.

Davison has had a consistent year and sits sixth overall on the standings heading into Symmons Plains, the final sprint races of the season.

He finished fourth and sixth in races at the last round, the Sydney SuperNight, but he and stablemate Anton De Pasquale will be targeting the top of the podium in Tasmania.

Davison hopes to use the consistent speed he has displayed to his advantage at a circuit where qualifying will be critical.

“Tassie’s a unique one, a very interesting race every year,” he said.

“It’s always a pretty crazy opening lap on a real little bullring, one of the shortest and most technical tracks we go to.

“With how close the cars are at the moment, qualifying is going to be absolutely insanely tight, and really critical.

“We’re coming into it off a pole position in Sydney and a provional pole in Townsville, so obviously our qualifying speed has been really good.”

Davison declared he’s ‘excited’, not daunted, by the challenges racing in Tasmania in winter for the first time presents.

Will Davison at the Sydney SuperNight. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)

“Being cold down there it’s going to create lots of challenges for teams, the drivers, and how we strategise our preparation for qualifying,” he said.

“I’m excited about it. I love the track and the challenges it presents, and bring on the unpredictable nature of this season.

“It’s certainly time for us to step up and get trophies.”

Meanwhile, David Reynolds plans to use the Tasmania SuperSprint as a launch pad to success in Australia’s ‘Great Race’ now his dreams of a maiden Supercars title are over.

The 39-year-old is currently 15th in the standings before the final sprint round of the season at Symmons Plains, beginning Friday.

The field’s attention then turns to the enduro events, starting with the Sandown 500 next month before the jewel in the crown, the Bathurst 1000, in October.

“Tasmania is the last round before the enduro season and that’s on the forefront of everyone’s mind,” Reynolds told Supercars.com.

“How can we win Bathurst? We’re not in the championship, so how can we win Bathurst? We’re all pointing arrows towards that one big race.

Supercars driver David Reynolds. Picture: Evan Morgan

“After Tasmania we’ve got Sandown 500 not as a warm-up, but as a precursor to the big event. And then the Bathurst 1000, that’s my time to shine.”

The Tasmania SuperSprint has been moved to winter for the first time, and Reynolds expects that to present some challenges.

“(Tasmania) is one of the coolest tracks you can drive on,” Reynolds said.

“It’s got one of the slowest corners and one of the fastest corners and makes some of the best racing. You can get good runs on people, you can get drafts and it always makes chaos.

“You’ve gotta race really hard and defend your position, otherwise there could be a train of five cars behind you, you could get hung out to dry and be five spots behind in one lap.

“It’s gonna be super cold this year, we’ve never gone at this time of year, so to get your tyres up to temperature and in the operating window, that’s gonna be the challenge for us.”