De Pasquale hopeful of continuing red hot Sydney form

Anton De Pasquale is hopeful he can carry winning form into Sydney, but is wary of the false dawns the new Gen3 cars have presented.

De Pasquale and the Shell V-Power Racing Team recently broke through to win the NTI Townsville 500 finale.

It was the first win for Dick Johnson Racing since September 2022, and De Pasquale’s first in Townsville.

De Pasquale and DJR have been a dominant combination at Sydney Motorsport Park, which will host next weekend’s Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight.

In 12 starts across five rounds in 2021 and 2022, De Pasquale claimed five wins and eight pole positions.

However, the new Gen3 car has wiped the slate clean when it comes to form, with DJR winless until the 17th race of the season.

While he and his team know how to go fast in Sydney, De Pasquale isn’t getting too far ahead of himself.

Five Sydney wins, eight poles in DJR colours

“Going to Sydney, we’ve had a really fast car there the last two years, we’ve had awesome pace,” he said on the Rusty’s Garage podcast.

“But we don’t have that car, we don't have those tools. We’re starting with an understanding of what we think can work.

“We know what works in the past, but that necessarily hasn’t been true this year. We’ll find out.

“Hopefully it works again in Sydney, and that’s more of our base. But if it’s no good, it’s a street-track only sort of thing.”

Clever strategy, car speed and a bolstered tyre bank ensured De Pasquale was near untouchable in the Townsville finale.

It came after the #11 Ford was forced out of the Saturday race due to electrical gremlins.

The sweeping Sydney Grand Prix circuit is a polar opposite to the stop-start, bumpy nature of Townsville’s Reid Park hybrid circuit.

However, both tracks are hard on tyres, and teams have already tested in Sydney with their new cars — albeit in a pre-season test affected by weather.

Teams will also have to contend with night and day conditions and Dunlop's Soft tyre, with Ford squads also coming to grips with recent aero tweaks.

While pleased with the speed uncovered in Townsville, De Pasquale is unsure how much will carry over into Sydney, which will host the first night race of the Gen3 era.

“Debriefs this year, we’ve had a lot to go through and a lot to learn still,” De Pasquale said.

“We spent a bit of time working out where the improvements came from.

“We did do some stuff towards Sunday — you never know what’s going to happen the next day.

“We analysed, but does it work the next time? It’s motor racing, who really knows, everything changes so often.

“Definitely for that type of track and what we’re looking for, what we did was really good.”

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight on July 28-30. Tickets are on sale now.