![\"\u2018Aren\u2019t](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/017-Davison-EV07-MH6_0144.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWill Davison. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWill Davison. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the message from DJR CEO David Noble, who faced the media at Sandown just over two weeks after the 43-year-old was given the news that will end a 20-year stint as a full-time driver.<\/p>\n
Noble affirmed the decision was made around the Gold Coast 500 weekend but was not the work of a moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose decisions seem like they come quickly, but there\u2019s a lot of work behind the scenes, there\u2019s a lot of assessment that goes into those decisions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe youth are coming and they\u2019re coming pretty hard in our competition, what they\u2019ve been able to do in the last 12 months.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Ryan] Woody, Kai [Allen], [Cooper] Murray, [Aaron] Cameron, those guys, they\u2019re taking it up to the rest of us.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it was probably the next iteration of our rebirth last year when we turned over a third of our staff, brought new engineers, a new driver [Brodie Kostecki] in.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s sort of been the continuation of where the improvements needed to come from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why DJR couldn\u2019t make the same silly season mistake twice<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The decision came a year after DJR let an option on Kai Allen lapse in favour of retaining Davison \u2013 a move that appears a mistake given the young gun\u2019s success with Grove Racing.<\/p>\n Next year\u2019s Supercars field will be the youngest in history with an average age of just 27 at the start of the season.<\/p>\n \u201cThe youth has really attached itself to Gen3,\u201d continued Noble.<\/p>\n \u201cThe courage to just step into the car and just, give me what I\u2019ve got to see what I can do, that becomes refreshing.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want you to pitch that against Will, that\u2019s just what they bring. They bring energy, they bring life, they bring courage to just try certain things.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was definitely a shift, and we needed to jump on board with that shift.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n DJR insisted for months that Davison was safe before ultimately swinging the axe, leaving him no time to find another full-time seat.<\/p>\n Davison declined the opportunity to stay on at DJR as a co-driver and is thought most likely to join Grove in place of a retiring Garth Tander.<\/p>\n Noble, who joined DJR in 2023 following a long career in AFL and will himself depart the team at season\u2019s end<\/a>, said not many athletes are able to enjoy a fairytale farewell.<\/p>\n \u201cThe mark of a champion for me is the ability to perform at a high level consistently and over a long period of time, and he ticks all of those boxes,\u201d said Noble of Davison.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve extremely enjoyed working with him over the last three years, the quality of the athlete, preparing and presenting himself in the fashion that he does.<\/p>\n \u201cHe gets in the car every single session wanting to improve a hundredth, a tenth, you know, and that\u2019s just a credit to himself and the condition that he\u2019s in.<\/p>\n \u201cThere aren\u2019t many fairytales in sport. Ash Barty is one, Joe Daniher, Oscar McInerney, for me, a couple that have won a flag and they go out in their own manner.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that shouldn\u2019t discount his career and how we should applaud his career, not just for what he\u2019s done for us, but for the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n
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