Will Davison was just two wins into his Supercars career when he landed the hottest seat in the field – taking over from Holden legend Mark Skaife back in 2009.
But describing the instant pressure to succeed at Holden Racing Team as “immense”, Davison has opened up on just how that drive changed his career – and what the future holds for the 42-year-old veteran of the paddock.
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“I’d come from three or four years in Europe, I’d had my first three years in Supercars, I’d won my first race that year in 2008 so finally, I felt like I was getting somewhere and nothing was going to stand in your way,” he recalled to Fox Motorsport.
“You know, your mindset at that point was just do what you got to do at all costs.
“That was my first big opportunity; I’d learned the ropes at DJR – I’d won a race, I’d proved I belong there, had won two races. Mark Skaife was someone as a kid, you’d just sit there watching dominate and win so much. And the Holden Racing Team had an aura around it.
“And (at the time) it was, ‘yeah, this is my time now’. And the pressure was enormous.
“It was obviously the end of MS’s (Skaife’s) career, his seat … I did feel a lot of pressure, straight up. But fortunately, we had such a good year that very quickly felt like, I belonged in that seat.”
That 2009 would be a year to remember for Davison as his HRT debut yielded a second-place championship finish – behind Jamie Whincup – and produced four wins including Ipswich, Phillip Island, Sandown and the first of his two Bathurst crowns.
Together with teammate and now Fox Motorsport commentator Garth Tander, Davison’s immediate success gave Holden fans the results they craved.
But 2010 was a different story, and it would be Davison’s last at HRT.
“You’re young and you’re naïve and you’re on a roll at that time, but now you look back on things very differently. You have a very different perspective on things,” he said.
“I learned a lot from that, though, that in a period, all of a sudden something that looks so potentially shiny and big … you get in the inner sanctums of things, and you realise there’s a lot more politics.
“It was the first time I probably learned what politics meant in organisations.
“And the good side of it was great. We had one good year. But on the other hand, at that time, that was where I learned a lot about the sport and very quickly, how you can go from being the underdog to then a position where people want to potentially put you down, and that’s where the first true lessons of being a professional sort of started kicking in.”
Davison spent time at four different teams before finally landing at Dick Johnson Racing at the start of 2021.
“It’s something I don’t take on lightly, particularly generations coming through that maybe aren’t as mindful of the history of our sport, but I certainly am,” Davison said of representing DJR.
“I love and respect probably more than most where the sport’s built upon, and the legend of Dick Johnson, and the privilege that it is to get in that car 17.
“I had that same feeling back in 2005 when I first drove for Dick and I still carry that with me today. It’s not lost on me and the responsibility to represent well and bring the results to the team.”
Davison’s career has now come full circle, having started at DJR and now there once again more than 20 years later.
The 42-year-old, who remains the second oldest in the field in 2025 behind James Courtney who has already announced this season will be his last full-time drive, says the end isn’t in sight just yet.
“Like most people at my age, whether that’s racing or just life, you’re like, where on earth 20 years gone?” he laughed.
“You think of something that was 10 years ago that feels like yesterday, and it’s just bizarre and a bit scary.
“I’m proud (of the longevity) … I know what a cutthroat industry this is. I know what it’s taken to stay in the sport this long, and it’s not smooth sailing. There’s ups and downs. I’m just really proud that I’ve been able to uphold a high level for so long, and it’s a privileged position – you can’t lose sight of that.
“You’ve got to always have the mindset that you’re fighting for your job and survival. That’s what’s kept me going so long, that you’re only as good as your last race.
“I’ve got a very supportive household, supportive wife, and I’m just doing what I love and put so much pressure on myself to constantly be better.
“It’s easy in your early 20s and late 20s, when you don’t have too much else in your life going on. But I am proud that I’ve been able to constantly work hard, consistently look after myself, to keep myself at a high standard.
“I still go to every event with the same mindset I did as a kid – to win it at all costs. And the moment that intensity drops in my own head is the moment you shouldn’t be there.”
Davison will drive in this weekend’s Darwin Triple Crown, with practice starting on Friday before races on Saturday and Sunday.