Full Throttle

No, not the T-Shirt Salesman NASCAR’s Jim Beam, the V8 Supercars Jim Beam and its driver Will Davison.

In a turn around from the first race, Ford drivers dominated the second race in the 2008 V8 Supercar Series at Eastern Creek today, finishing in the top three places.

The first Holden across the line was Ford defector Russell Ingall in his Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore VE. Race one winner, Garth Tander could only finish in ninth place.

The race and round win is the first for Dick Johnson’s team since 2001, breaking a seven year drought and highlighting the improvement and determination of a team well and truly on the rise in 2008.

Following on from a brilliant start in Saturday’s opening race, Davison jumped Garth Tander off the line to claim a race lead he never surrendered throughout race two, comfortably driving the number 18 Jim Beam Falcon to victory ahead of Mark Winterbottom.

Starting from pole for race three Davison had to deal with wearing tyres for much of the final race, eventually crossing in sixth position to seal the round win for Jim Beam Racing.

Today’s results catapult Davison to fifth on the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship points table after two rounds.

Steve Johnson finished 19th and 17th respectively and wasn’t able to find the speed he produced in the opening round of the Championship where he finished fourth overall at Clipsal.

Will Davison was estatic after his win: “Amazing effort by the entire team, this is a sweet victory and I am as pleased for everyone at Jim Beam racing as I am for myself.”

“Things are reall looking up for Jim Beam Racing, we are definitely going places this year.”

Meanwhile Steve Johnson reflected on his performance: “It was a bit of a disappointing weekend for me personally; however I’m thrilled for the team and Will.

“Hopefully we can sort things out and I’ll be back up front in New Zealand, I started the year well at Clipsal so there is no reason we can’t continue on in a similar fashion.”

However team owner Dick Johnson was more than happy: “It’s just an amazing feeling to have that buzz around the garage again; it was a well deserved victory for everyone and Will has done a brilliant job this weekend.

“It’s been a while between wins, I’m just extremely proud of the team, we have stuck together and this result is a testament to the hard work of everyone at Jim Beam Racing.”

Cross Posted @ Asian Motor Sports, race report for Eastern Creek’s third round can also be read at Asian Motorsports.