Davison needed treatment after cabin fire

The Dick Johnson Racing driver suffered a battery fire during the first segment of qualifying at the Melbourne circuit today.

The issue, prompted by an electrical short in a data input, filled the cabin of the Shell Ford with smoke.

Not wanting to prompt a red flag Davison drove the car back to the pits, although that decision took its toll on his health.

While he was well enough to jump back in the car and immediately grab pole in the second segment of qualifying, he later admitted that he was treated by Supercars medical delegate Dr Carl Le after the session.

"I had a weird morning, that's for sure. It was a bit of a shock," said Davison this evening.

"The priority was to try and get the car back and not cause a red flag, but it was getting pretty hard to breath in the last minute or so. It was getting quite bad. I'd rather not breath than cause a red flag – I don't know what we were thinking. 

"I was with Dr Carl for a bit on the oxygen for a bit."

Despite the fire Davison started today's first race from 11th and was in contention for a solid result before he was dropped while the wheel gun was still attached during his stop.

That yielded a drive-through penalty and he finished 15th.

He then took the fight to Shane van Gisbergen in the second race but fell four-tenths short after running an overcut strategy.