De Pasquale lights up Sydney with crushing Race 20 win

Anton De Pasquale has opened his Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight account with a comprehensive Race 20 win.

The fast man in all practice and qualifying sessions leading to the race, De Pasquale was imperious from lights to flag.

De Pasquale’s run to a third career victory was aided by a slow stop for Will Brown, who crossed the line fourth behind Erebus Motorsport teammate Brodie Kostecki.

Kostecki - who claimed his second career podium - finished behind Shane van Gisbergen, who extended his series lead to 312 points.

In the first race start in 104 days, De Pasquale had a better initial launch, but Brown - who was starting from his maiden front row - ran with him through Turn 1.

The field, sans Will Davison, made it safely through the first lap.

Davison, who started third, vaulted alongside Brown rounding Turn 3. However, Brown shuffled Davison towards the grass.

The #17 Shell V-Power Racing Team Mustang was flicked sideways and into the air, and Davison prevented an accident - but he couldn’t stop van Gisbergen moving into third.

Chasing his first win, Brown shadowed De Pasquale in the opening laps, with the Erebus rookie keeping the margin to 0.5s.

It was a different story for Davison, who fell behind Nick Percat. Kostecki muscled his way past at Turn 6 on lap 4, dropping Davison to sixth.

Chaz Mostert, who had started ninth, was next to apply pressure to Davison. However, Davison managed to keep the Walkinshaw Andretti United at bay leading to the stops.

All the while, De Pasquale kept Brown honest, but the margin blew out to 1.2 on lap 9.

As the pit sequence began down the field, Brown pegged the margin back to 0.8s.

Percat was first of the lead runners to stop on lap 11, with Mostert stopping from sixth on the following lap.

With De Pasquale attempting to hold Brown behind, van Gisbergen - who was at most three seconds behind Brown - was 0.7s behind the #9 WD-40 Commodore on lap 14.

De Pasquale quickly opened up a two-second gap on Brown, who was demoted to third down the pit straight by van Gisbergen on lap 14.

Davison stopped on lap 14 and emerged behind Mostert and David Reynolds, who was first to pit on lap 9.

Brown followed De Pasquale in on lap 15; De Pasquale had a clean stop, but the same couldn’t be said for Brown.

Brown took on four tyres - like his teammate - but a 16-second stop ensured the 23-year-old emerged well behind De Pasquale.

Kostecki and Cameron Waters stopped on lap 17, leaving van Gisbergen a clear leader.

On lap 19, van Gisbergen came into the lane for right-hand side tyres.

With working side tyres on the car, van Gisbergen emerged behind Percat, who was effective second.

Tim Slade was the final driver to stop on lap 22, returning De Pasquale to the lead.

Van Gisbergen cleared Percat for second and set off after De Pasquale, whose tyres were four laps younger.

Mostert was fourth ahead of Kostecki, with Brown sixth, albeit 10 seconds from the lead.

Reynolds, who started 11th, was ahead of Davison, with Whincup ninth ahead of Coulthard.

With eight laps remaining, De Pasquale held a 3.5s lead over van Gisbergen, with Percat a lone hand in third.

Mostert was cleared for fourth by Kostecki at Turn 7 on lap 25, with Brown following his teammate through into Turn 9.

De Pasquale held a steady four-second lead into the closing laps. Percat, however, had to defend from the Erebus rookies.

On the penultimate lap, Kostecki cleared Percat at Turn 6. On the final lap, Brown tried to unsettle Percat, but couldn’t make an overtake stick.

Brown did, however, claim the five bonus points for the fastest lap of the race.

It did little to deter De Pasquale, who sailed to his second win of the season by five seconds.

Van Gisbergen scored his 16th podium from 20 starts this season, with Kostecki adding to his Sandown podium.

"That was good fun; it's always fun at night," De Pasquale beamed.

"It was quite a good battle with Will into Turns 1 and 2.

"The cars delivered me an awesome car. It was good to convert this one.

"He was pushing me quite hard in that first one, I was trying to look after my tyres.

"It was a good race."

Cars will return to the track on Sunday at 10:30am AEDT for Race 21 qualifying.