A SHATTERED Will Davison has conceded his Bathurst 1000-ending crash was a driver error.
The #17 Shell V-Power Racing Mustang had back fought from a lap down to be running a net fifth heading into the last 20 laps.
However, their charge was crushed when Davison found the fence at Griffins Bend directly after making his last stop – during which he had leapfrogged Broc Feeney.
“So disappointed to not finish the race today,” he said.
“We worked so hard to get ourselves back in the fight after an early incident.
“Unfortunately, I made a slight mistake on cold tyres.
“I’m absolutely gutted that we couldn’t finish the race and keep battling.”
The early incident he referred to was brother Alex Davison getting bogged at The Chase on lap 30, triggering a Safety Car.
The other side of the Dick Johnson Racing garage had been on the back foot even earlier, Tony D’Alberto caught in a Lap 1 kerfuffle that forced a quick visit to the garage for a change of steering arm.
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The #100 entry, spearheaded by Anton De Pasquale, had roared back into contention before a disastrous brake rotor change.
De Pasquale ultimately took the flag seventh.
“It was just a whole day of fighting back really,” team principal Ben Croke told V8 Sleuth.
“I’m proud of the team to not give up and drop their heads and keep trying to fight back.”
Croke admitted they mightn’t have had the outright pace to win the Great Race.
“We might have been just a couple of tenths short there right at the end,” he said.
“Anton said he had a little bit more in him had he been in the top couple, if he really had to go.”
Davison has dropped to fifth in the drivers’ championship, two spots behind De Pasquale, while DJR now trails Triple Eight Race Engineering by 671 points in the teams’ title race.
