Suspected fractured vertebra for Will Davison after 36G hit

The Tekno driver copped the worst of the monster second-lap shunt that wiped a third of the Supercars field out of yesterday’s opening race at Symmons Plains, with a high-speed, head-on impact with Rick Kelly’s spinning Nissan Altima.

Davison extracted himself from the wreck unaided, but was visibly distressed after hopping out of the car, and was treated on the scene by medical staff before being transported to hospital.

He is currently still in Launceston General Hospital, undergoing tests and scans for what is believed to be a fractured vertebra following the 36G hit.

“He has a suspected fracture to a vertebra in his lower back,” Davison’s manager David Segal told Motorsport.com.

“There’s a lot of bruising and trauma from the belts. It was a rough night to be honest, he was in a lot of discomfort. But I’ve been with him since about eight this morning and he’s a lot better today.”

The injuries mean that Davison is in doubt for the next round at Phillip Island, which started in less than two weeks.

“He’s doing more tests and scans to find out exactly what’s going on,” added Segal. “He won’t be able to fly back to Melbourne today, so that’s more likely to be tomorrow.

“It’s not a long-term issue, it’s a case of recovering and repairing.

“In terms of Phillip Island, we genuinely don’t know. Does he want to race? Sure. He’d race today if he was allowed. The first step in terms of Phillip Island is to see if the car can get fixed, and with Will we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Davison’s Commodore is already on its way back to Tekno’s Queensland base.

Kelly sore but okay

Rick Kelly, meanwhile, has confirmed that he is sore but generally fine after the clash with Davison.

Speaking to the Fox Sports TV crew, he said he has some pain from where his leg his the gear shift.

“No drama, I have a bit of a tender leg on the outside where it hit the gear lever, and a bit of sore inside the knee,” he said.

“I think that’s a good outcome, a lucky outcome, considering the amount of impacts the car hit.

“That [36G] is mirrored in my car, in the data that we got as well. Inside the car it’s a very interesting feeling, the noise of the impact is the thing that sticks in your mind.

“As you’re coming down the road, we got hit from three of four different cars, and you’re sort of aware of your position on the race track every time as to whether you’re at risk or not – and I knew I was in a bad spot on a couple of occasions there. Unfortunately the bad spot I was in at the end was the prime spot for Will to come through and hit us.

“We’re just very fortunate it was passenger’s side and not driver’s side. That’s racing. We know the risks, it was wet, and that’s how it ended.”

Coulthard penalised

Fabian Coulthard has subsequently been docked 35 championship points for instigating the contact that sparked the pile-up.

Stewards deemed that Coulthard’s contact with Rick Kelly through Turn 3 was the root cause of the 12-car crash.

“The Stewards imposed a penalty of the loss of 35 Championship Points on Car #12, Fabian Coulthard, following an investigation and an admission of Reckless Driving by him (Failing to give racing room to Car #15, on the exit of Turn 3, causing Car #15 to impact the fence on the left-hand side),” read a steward’s report.

“Consequently, Car #14 (Tim Slade) who was immediately behind Cars #12 and #15 impacted the rear of both Cars.

“Car #14 was found not to have contributed to the incident. Car #12 was found to be predominately to blame for the Incident involving Cars #15 and #14).”