Australian V8 Supercars - Alex Davison: We'll Have More Podium Finishes This Year

BIGPOND: Your partnership with new engineer Daniel Kroehn seems to be working well - you ran inside the top 10 all weekend at the Yas V8 400.

AD: “Yes Dan has fitted into SBR really well in a short space of time. He quickly learnt the team’s systems and cars, and everyone is really impressed with him.

Personally, I think the big benefit for me is that I now have an engineer that is 100 percent dedicated to engineering my car. Working with Dave (Stuart) last year was great, but now the whole team is benefiting from his focus solely as team manager.

He’s tying the engineering department together which helps lessen the load across all three cars and I think we’re seeing those benefits paying off already.

BIGPOND: Team Principal Ross Stone told BigPond Sport that he thought last year’s Sydney Telstra 500 was the turning point for the team, do you agree?

AD: “Yes, Sydney was the third race meeting in our new chassis, but the first time we ran it with the same setup as the #9 SP Tools car. For reasons we still don’t understand, running the same setup with our older chassis just didn’t work. The changes worked on the new car straight away and we were instantly more competitive.

BIGPOND: Was it good to silence the critics with a podium finish at the opening race of the year?

AD: “It was, but by no means have I proved myself yet. The Yas V8 400 was the first race meeting where I ran consistently up the front, but we need to be competitive all year. I was confident that once we got the new car we’d do well and so far that’s what has happened.

“I set the bar pretty high for myself … I think it’s normal competitive instinct to always want to do better and go faster. When you’re wobbling around in the back half of the field you’d give anything to qualify or finish a race inside the top 10. Then when a top 10 result actually happens, straight away you’re pouring over the data working out how to go faster.

“Of course I was happy to finish on the podium, but I was also disappointed not to be able to challenge Jamie (Whincup).

“I think we have a solid base to work from now and we have the opportunity for more podiums throughout the season. I’d be pleased with a top five championship result at the end of the year.”

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