De Pasquale hopeful despite costly pit stop turmoil
Anton De Pasquale hopeful despite costly pit stop turmoil
Team 18 driver's Taupo hopes undone by two slow pit stops
De Pasquale eighth in points heading to Tasmania on May 9-11
Anton De Pasquale is hopeful Team 18 can challenge for wins in 2025 despite the star recruit's Taupō weekend falling apart in pit lane.
De Pasquale finished the first seven races of the season in the top 10, but was undone by a cross-threaded wheel nut in Saturday's second race, finishing 20th.
On Sunday, the DEWALT Chevrolet driver rebounded with a sensational front row start for the finale, offering hope of a breakthrough win in just his third round with Team 18.
De Pasquale launched off the line strongly, but ran wide at Turn 1, dropping to sixth. Through the opening 14 laps, he was only passed by Brodie Kostecki, who started alongside side the #18 and was pushed off the track on lap 1.
On lap 15, De Pasquale made his first stop, but another slow stop dropped him down the order, and into 12th once all drivers had completed their first stops.
From there, De Pasquale's tyre life was compromised, limiting his ability to recover. He made his second stop on lap 39, and crossed the line 16th, 37 seconds behind winner Matt Payne.
Where a top four in the weekend standings was possible, De Pasquale was 15th overall, also losing ground to the top six in the championship.
“Yeah, I guess 15th for the weekend probably doesn't sum it up for us,” De Pasquale said on Supercars' Cool Down Lap podcast.
"Overall, a lot of positives. Just a few mishaps in the pit stops, which cost us a lot of time. In such a tight field, you sort of can't afford that stuff.
"So that put us on the back foot in a couple races and then missed the podium yesterday, which could have been avoidable.
“And then bit of a lock-up into [Turn] 1 today, but we didn't have the pace today in the race. But to get the car into the front row in a Shootout, it's really cool for still a young group together. It's exciting.”
However, when asked if he can win a race this season, De Pasquale said: “Yeah, for sure. I think we definitely could have fought, especially yesterday, for a couple podiums.
"We ultimately didn't, but I think we're in the hunt for it, which is a good step. Qualifying the front row., couple rounds ago we were struggling to qualify even into the 10.
"So, we're learning a lot quickly, which is really exciting. I guess the key is repeating it, doing this again at the next couple rounds. But yeah, I think we definitely have the recipe here to win a race or so for the year.
"I mean, we'll try and get a podium first, but very close to pole today."
