Dick Johnson Racing dejected after Newcastle nightmare

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: March 13, 2023

Everyone is “hurting” at Dick Johnson Racing after it opened the 2023 Supercars Championship in forgetful fashion on the streets of Newcastle.

The two red Shell Mustangs are usually fighting at the front of the field, but they were nowhere to be seen in the first round of the Gen3 era.

Despite Will Davison showing some promise on Friday being just 0.0374s away from topping Practice 2, it proved to be a false dawn, as the next best result the team could register all weekend was 11th in race 1 after the Triple Eight Camaros were disqualified.

Dick Johnson Racing team principal Ben Croke put down Saturday’s struggles to qualifying, but neither Davison or Anton De Pasquale could make major gains on the more dramatic following day.

Davison just missed out on qualifying in the top 10, but was handed a three-place grid penalty for blocking Will Brown and finished the race down in 19th after sustaining early bodywork damage to the right rear.

De Pasquale qualified a lowly 21st, seven tenths off the pace and managed to stay out of trouble in the race to come home 16th a lap down.

The wash-up leaves Dick Johnson Racing down in 10th in the team’s championship after enduring its first season-opening round without a trophy or top-10 finish since 2015.

Ford’s homologation team left its final test at Queensland Raceway beleving it still had “lots to learn“.

But now the hard work will only inrcrease as they try to discover why they were so far off the pace.

“It was a very tough weekend, but one weekend does not define our team or the work we put into our racing,” said Croke.

“We have got some time now to re-set and head to the Grand Prix and to find the set-up window that works for our cars.”

Neither Dick Johnson Racing driver had much to say at the conclusion of the weekend, highlighting the pain inside the team which has finished no lower than second in the team’s championship in each of the last six seasons.

“A big thanks to everyone in the team. Obviously this weekend didn’t go the way we had planned,” Davison said.

“We’re all hurting but we will bounce back.”

“Not the ideal first weekend for us,” reflected De Pasquale.

“There’s a lot of work to be done, but we’ll keep our heads high and work it out.”

After being so far off the pace at Newcastle, Dick Johnson Racing has a busy three-week break to find some speed before the Melbourne SuperSprint.

2023 Newcastle 500 results

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Dick Johnson Racing dejected after Newcastle nightmare

Dick Johnson Racing team principal Ben Croke put down Saturday’s struggles to qualifying, but neither Davison or Anton De Pasquale could make major gains on the more dramatic following day.

The wash-up leaves Dick Johnson Racing down in 10th in the team’s championship after enduring its first season-opening round without a trophy or top-10 finish since 2015.

Neither Dick Johnson Racing driver had much to say at the conclusion of the weekend, highlighting the pain inside the team which has finished no lower than second in the team’s championship in each of the last six seasons.

“We’re all hurting but we will bounce back.”

2023 Newcastle 500 results

Friday, March 10

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