Oliver Gavin disappointed with Will Davison after early collision

Britain’s Oliver Gavin’s hopes of repeating last year’s podium or going even better at the Bathurst 1000 were dashed after just a quarter distance this year, when he was spun around by Will Davison’s Erebus Mercedes at Forrest’s Elbow on lap 55.

Gavin had taken over from regular driver Nick Percat and was running in fifth position in the Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Holden Commodore, when he was tapped from behind by Davison as the pair came up to lap the Prodrive Ford of Simona de Silvestro.

“It was going very well, Nick did a great job in the first stint, and I just picked that up and we were slowly marching our way up the order, nothing too crazy or too rash,” said Gavin to TouringCarTimes.

“I realised that Will (Davison) was behind me for a lap or two, and then we came round into the Elbow and I kind of knew he was having a look so I started to defend a little but nothing too crazy, I also knew that the 200 car was in front of me and I was also trying to get a good exit to get past them.

“We were also two or three laps from pitting and he was going to be in the same position, so when the contact came and he spun me around and we ended up in the wall I was extremely frustrated and disappointed as that was going to be the end of our race. The car was damaged and we had to get it fixed and we lost two laps, and the way this series runs their safety cars, you can’t get laps under safety car; once you’re down, you’re down. It was a rash and miscalculated move by Will Davison which has taken us out of the race.”

Despite the disastrous result, which saw the #222 Holden finish in 19th and the first car off of the lead lap, Gavin was satisfied with the performance seen throughout the weekend.

“It bodes well for Gold Coast. We were running strongly at Sandown and we had a mechanical failure, and we could have had a top six finish there. You want one of these to come together where we can get a representative result for the talent that’s here with Nick and I and the team. We are a smaller team, we don’t have the resources of Walkinshaw, Triple Eight or PRA, but I think in the race today we were really punching above our weight.”

The five-time Le Mans 24 Hours GT class winner hopes to be able to have a third shot at winning the Bathurst 1000 next year.

“It’s still on the list of things that would be just amazing to tick off, and I think year-on-year I just need to keep building the experience and understanding of how to run this race. It’s like every race, whether it’s Le Mans, Sebring 12 Hours, Daytona 24 Hours, Bathurst 12 Hours or 1000, there’s always a way of going about the race in a style or routine, and this one has a unique way.”