Will Davison takes Ford’s first win of 2013

Will Davison took his first victory of the season in an incident filled race three at Pukekohe, and drew Ford’s first blood under the new “Car of the Future” regulations. The Ford Performance Racing driver was the last man standing, and takes the championship lead ahead of Red Bull Racing rival Jamie Whincup.

New Zealand natives Shane van Gisbergen and Fabian Coulthard rounded out the podium, finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively behind race winner Davison. The fourth safety car period signalled the end of race 8 of the season, with the chequered flag shown four laps short of the scheduled 36 when the 45 minute time limit was reached.

The third race of the weekend was marked by carnage throughout the field. Tony D’Alberto was the first casualty at the hairpin on lap 2 following an incident with Tim Blanchard and Lee Holdsworth. James Courtney made contact with Shane Van Gisbergen on lap 13, appearing to turn across the front of the Tekno Autosport driver under braking, and consequently speared off into the gravel at turn 8. Incidents involving Jamie Whincup and Scott McLaughlin also triggered safety car periods late in the race.

Earlier, Jamie Whincup took pole position in qualifying after setting a 1.02.70, followed by Mark Winterbottom on a 1.02.79. However, it was Winterbottom who jumped Whincup off the line, and led the field away in the opening laps. Whincup made an overly aggressive pass for the lead on lap 17, and Winterbottom sustained significant steering damage as a result. However, Whincup also experienced difficulty at the hairpin, beaching his Red Bull Racing entry in the gravel after his foot slipped off the brake pedal.

Fabian Coulthard briefly led the race in front of his adoring home fans before Will Davison made a decisive, race winning move on the 27th lap. He was followed up the inside by Shane van Gisbergen, who cemented second placed with an opportunistic move on his fellow Kiwi. Craig Lowndes took 4th position, improving significantly on his 9th place in qualifying. Garth Tander flew the HRT flag, rounding out the top-5 after starting back in 13th.

Will Davison was thrilled to take the first win for Ford at the venue since 2004, and his first for the season.
“It’s probably not expected, coming from fifth on the grid, but I had a lot of fun, it was a great race. There were a couple of errors by the guys in front, but I had to really race for it at the end there. It’s probably the most competitive I’ve been all year, so to get a race win is very special for everyone involved. We also had great car speed, so that’s important,” said Davison.

Scott McLaughlin fell back to earth following his record setting win on Saturday, meeting the wall heavily on the outside of the final turn following a tyre blowout.
“It wasn’t any fault of my own, just a mechanical failure that came from an unfortunate incident – and you can’t do much about that”.

McLaughlin will be unable to compete in race four of the ITM 400 as a result of the heavy damage to his GRM Commodore. Rick Kelly was once again the highest placed Nissan in the field, taking 10th position while Moffatt, Caruso and Todd Kelly placed 13th, 14th and 15th respectively in the other factory Nissan entries. Tim Slade was the best placed Mercedes, taking 16th ahead of Lee Holdsworth in 17th.

The final race of the ITM 400 takes place later this afternoon. Jason Bright starts from pole position.