Walking away from the comforts of a leading factory team for one that’s still in development was one of the biggest decisions of his V8 Supercars career, but Will Davison says he’s proud to be the first driver brave enough to do it.

The 31-year-old will pilot one of Erebus Motorsport’s two Mercedes-Benz AMG racers this season – his 10th and the team’s second in the category – after leaving Ford Performance Racing (FPR) at the end of 2013.

The switch is viewed by some as a gamble, given Erebus’ poor showing last year and the success Davison has previously enjoyed with championship contenders FPR and the Holden Racing Team in 2009 and 2010.

“But you can’t be short-sighted in this business,” Davison told AAP.

“I was always the young bloke being very short-sighted; where can I go next year to establish myself and win races?

“It gets to a point now where you start focusing on where’s the best them for me in the long term.

“I was forced to make a long-term decision and this is was the right decision for me.

“Yeah, it’s a big call to walk away from teams on which the history of this sport’s been built on – the blue and red rivalry.

“But the sport’s changing direction now. It’s new age and I’m probably the first guy that’s been brave enough to do this.

“Others often get a bit secure and probably aren’t brave enough to do it.

“I just can’t wait to validate that to people in the future.”

Davison said he was prepared to cop some flack from fans over the contentious move, knowing most would never fully understand the complexity of his situation.

“People just assume you’ve got a million options to choose from and you can go wherever you want; you’re always the one walking out the door,” he said.

“The people that know me, know who I am and my reasons for going racing.

“One day maybe when I’m old, grey and 50, I’d love to write a book. But right now, there’s no point wasting energy.

“I make decisions for myself and they’ve been certainly a lot more complex than people would ever understand. But that’s business – that’s sport.

“Any time you get knocked down for something like this, it means the sport’s healthy.”

Davison will drive for his new outfit for the first time at the official test day at Sydney Motorsport Park on Saturday, two weeks out from the season-opening Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.