DJR salvages crucial points from horror Sandown

A disastrous Penrite Oil Sandown 500 for Dick Johnson Racing could have been a whole lot worse had it not been for the efforts of the DJR crew.

The two Shell V-Power Mustangs had been having something of an anonymous weekend before the 500km race, with Anton De Pasquale squeezing into the Top Ten Shootout on Saturday.

On his 29th birthday, De Pasquale then produced something of a minor miracle to qualify third, having almost thrown it all away on his out-lap.

Teammate Will Davison struggled to 15th in Boost Mobile Qualifying, having nosed the #17 Mustang into the tyre wall in Practice 5 whilst attempting a slick tyre run in mixed conditions.

De Pasquale would jump to second off the start, but that would be as good as it got for the #11 Ford, as Brodie Kostecki muscled his way past on lap 2.

De Pasquale would tumble back through the order as a result, De Pasquale beginning his final enduro campaign as a DJR driver with a 14th place finish alongside Tony D’Alberto.

Things would be worse for Davison and Kai Allen, with the current Super2 Series leader caught up in a messy incident halfway through the race on lap 68.

Having made slight contact with Dylan O’Keeffe in Nick Percat’s Camaro, the reigning Super2 champion was limping back to pit lane with a flat tyre before the chasing pack caught him at the final corner.

Allen and O’Keeffe would cop the worst of the concertina which also involved Dean Fiore, who was driving Jaxon Evans’ SCT Logistics Camaro.

“I think we had a fair bit of car pace. We had a long stint then so I was just trying to be smart, unfortunately it just didn’t work out,” said Allen after returning to the garage.

“Dylan [O’Keeffe] made a little bit of a mistake over the top of the hill [Turn 6], I passed him down at Dandenong Road [Turn 9], and then coming out of there for some reason we made awkward contact, which was all fine, it was really light.

“I didn’t think anything of it heading into the last corner, then the car started moving around, and I could see that there was something seriously wrong with the right rear, and it was just a right rear puncture.

Despite heavy damage to the Davison/Allen Mustang, the car was repaired and released back onto the track with just minutes to spare in order to be classified.

Davison and Allen finished the race 36 laps down in 24th, and was the last of the classified finishers in the field.

The 66 points earned by the #17 kept the team in the fight for fourth in the teams’ championship, however that didn’t stop Grove Racing jumping ahead despite troubles of their own.

27 points separate the two teams heading into next month’s Repco Bathurst 1000, with DJR CEO David Noble firmly focused on returning to the fourth set of garages in the live pit lane.

“It’s been an extremely challenging weekend. We just have to reset and re-group for the next race at Bathurst,” reflected CEO David Noble.

“Qualifying and the Shootout were great, so there are some highlights. Anton did a brilliant top job to come out first in the Shootout and put his car on the second row.

“In the race there was a lot happening, some things in our control and some out of our control. We’ve now got to do a better job on the things we can control."

Tickets for the Repco Bathurst 1000, to be held on October 10-13, are on sale now.