Davison dominates Sandown opener

Will Davison has crushed the field to win his first Sandown race in 13 years.

Davison dominated from pole to continue his Penrite Oil Sandown SuperSprint dominance.

The Shell V-Power Racing Team driver previously topped Practice 1 and three-part qualifying.

It was Davison’s second win of the season following his Perth breakthrough in May.

Davison’s last Sandown victory came for the Holden Racing Team in 2009.

It was also Dick Johnson Racing’s first Sandown win since 2010.

The winning margin over Shane van Gisbergen was a whopping 8.5s, Davison ending the ZB Commodore's unbeaten run at Sandown.

The current Commodore model had been unbeaten in seven Sandown races since 2018.

Davison's victory came in the week DJR re-signed both drivers, and welcomed new ownership.

“Just a dream run,” the two-time Bathurst winner said.

“I was pushing hard, I'm feeling really good.

“Huge shoutout to Rich [Harris, engineer], everyone at Shell V-Power Racing.

“It's a great way to kick off the new era."

Van Gisbergen prevented a Shell V-Power one-two with Anton De Pasquale third.

Davison won the race to Turn 1, with van Gisbergen and Brown slotting into second and third.

The only flashpoint of the opening laps came on the very first lap.

Broc Feeney was sent into a spin by Andre Heimgartner at Turn 9.

Heimgartner was slapped with a 15-second penalty, and was classified 23rd.

Feeney, meanwhile, recovered to 14th and took home fastest lap bonus points.

De Pasquale stopped from fourth on lap 12 in an aggressive undercut bid.

Davison kept van Gisbergen at bay and opened up a 1.3s lead to lap 17.

Van Gisbergen and Brown stopped on lap 17, and De Pasquale split them when they rejoined.

Davison stopped on the following lap, and immediately opened up a gap.

With 12 laps remaining, the margin had blown out to 3.8s, with De Pasquale hounding van Gisbergen.

Davison’s lead was 5.2s by lap 30, with De Pasquale unable to make an impression on the points leader.

Brown, meanwhile, fell into the clutches of James Courtney, Waters and Scott Pye.

Waters cleared Courtney and set off after Brown, who put up a spirited resistance.

Throttle dramas in his stop consigned Lee Holdsworth to 24th in his 500th race.

Chaz Mostert and Nick Percat were 10th and 15th respectively in Walkinshaw Andretti United’s 900th race.

Van Gisbergen's championship lead is an extended 401 points over De Pasquale.

De Pasquale moved into second ahead of Waters, with the three Ford drivers covered by 50 points.

Cars will return to the track for dual qualifying sessions at 10:55am local time on Sunday.