De Pasquale discusses new car, engineer

Anton De Pasquale has shed more light on his new working relationship with engineer Ludo Lacroix following official pre-season testing.

De Pasquale finished second on the time sheets aboard his #100 Dick Johnson Racing Mustang on a hot day at Queensland Raceway.

The 25-year-old was a miserly 0.0061s down on pace-setter Zane Goddard, whose morning flyer in cooler conditions kept the #35 YellowCover Matt Stone Racing entry atop the tree.

After a shakedown on Wednesday, Friday's test marked De Pasquale's first true day with the experienced Lacroix in his ear.

De Pasquale logged 95 laps on Friday, and was pleased with a smooth first official track day as a DJR driver.

"Very good," he replied when asked about his day's running.

"Just worked through a programme, did everything we needed to do, learnt about the car, myself, the team, Ludo, all the stuff we wanted to do before we head to Bathurst.

"Everything made sense. We had a pretty successful day.

"The weather turned a bit weird, times dropped off heaps when the track dropped off.

"But overall, pretty successful."

Lacroix returns to race engineering in 2021, having led the team in a broader technical role.

De Pasquale, who claimed a maiden race win while driving for Erebus Motorsport last year, said the test day was an opportunity to gel with the Frenchman ahead of maiden campaign with the iconic Ford team.

"I think the idea was for him to learn about me," De Pasquale said of Lacroix.

"At the same time, you learn about each other, sort of working out the first time for me driving these cars in anger around the track, working in a racing environment as such.

"Just understanding what does what, what change feels like what, it might not work here, but we might need it down the track.

"Just understanding all that procedure.

"We'll find out, but it seemed okay."

De Pasquale will make his competitive debut in Shell V-Power colours at the Repco Mt Panorama 500 across February 26-28.

Tickets for the event are on sale now.