De Pasquale wins Texas Eseries round
13 May 2020
Anton De Pasquale has taken the round win at Circuit of the Americas to claw back ground in the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries standings.
WATCH: ESERIES ROUND 6 HIGHLIGHTS AT COTA
De Pasquale has been consistently fast in qualifying trim on his home simulator but has had an unfortunate knack of being tangled in incidents come race sessions.
The Penrite Racing youngster was beaten to ARMOR ALL Pole by Shane van Gisbergen but re-established the upper hand over the course of the night’s three races.
Van Gisbergen led home De Pasquale in the first race; that 1-2 order was reversed for the 20-lap finale.
In between, De Pasquale made up slightly more ground in a reverse grid race won by Lando Norris – fifth versus van Gisbergen’s seventh – to help secure the round win.
The results couldn’t have come at a better time for the #99 driver, who entered Round 6 down in fifth almost 300 points behind series leader Scott McLaughlin.
The Shell V-Power Racing star had a mixed night, netting two podiums either side of an 18th in the middle race after disastrous opening lap contact.
McLaughlin had late contact with title rival Cameron Waters in the final race while battling for third.
With McLaughlin spun, Driving Standards Observer Craig Baird ordered Waters to redress and hand back the position.
It would precede another Race 20 redress, this time for the lead as van Gisbergen spun De Pasquale on the last lap – the latest clash between the two.
With a large gap to the cars behind, the Red Bull driver decided himself to let De Pasquale back past and then launch another attack into the final sequence of corners.
De Pasquale and van Gisbergen’s dominance mean they both close their respective margins to McLaughlin’s points tally with four rounds remaining.
The night overall featured markedly less carnage besides a chaotic start to the middle race.
That reverse grid event saw Norris become the first international and the second wildcard – after Broc Feeney – to win a race in the Eseries.
Norris was joined on the podium by Waters and Brad Jones Racing’s Todd Hazelwood, who led the initial laps before being passed by Norris and undercut by Waters during the pitstop phase.
Round 7 next week will involve races at Charlotte and Daytona’s road course.
PIRTEK Memorable Moments
Race 18
Lap 1: Shane van Gisbergen gets away well from pole to lead from Anton De Pasquale, while Josh Fife finds immediate trouble off the line
Lap 2: Will Power makes a nice pass around the outside of Lee Holdsworth at Turn 1 to take fourth
Lap 5: van Gisbergen pits from the race lead
Lap 6: De Pasquale pits and re-emerges just behind van Gisbergen as Nick Percat assumes the lead by virtue of his long first stint
Lap 7: Lando Norris punts title contender Cameron Waters and cops a drive-through penalty. Norris drops from sixth to 16th and then falls further to 28th
Lap 8: Craig Lowndes runs wide and hits the fence all on his own
Lap 9: Scott Pye spins Austin Cindric
Lap 11: van Gisbergen takes a commanding victory ahead of De Pasquale and Scott McLaughlin
Race 19
Lap 1: Start line carnage as Fabian Coulthard, Zane Goddard and several other cars make immediate contact
Lap 1: Shell V-Power’s horror start continues as McLaughlin is caught up on the exit of Turn 1 along with Chris Pither and Andre Heimgartner
Lap 1: Todd Hazelwood leads from Norris as Jake Kostecki locks up and hits Fife
Lap 3: Hazelwood and Norris engage in a close scrap for the lead, swapping places multiple times before Norris makes it stick at the final corner
Lap 4: Waters pits from third in an attempt to make the undercut work
Lap 5: Norris and Hazelwood both pit, and the latter is crucially jumped by Waters for effective second
Lap 6: Fife rolls his Commodore at Turn 1 moments after exiting the pits
Lap 6: Alex Davison spins Goddard at the last corner
Lap 8: Shane van Gisbergen and Nick Percat finally take their stops, clearing the way for Norris to resume the lead
Lap 11: Norris leads home Waters and Hazelwood
Race 20
Lap 1: Polesitter De Pasquale staves off van Gisbergen to retain the lead as Norris drills McLaughlin slightly further back
Lap 5: van Gisbergen is the first of the frontrunners to pit in an effort to gain track position
Lap 6: De Pasquale pits and just keeps the lead from van Gisbergen
Lap 9: Will Power finally pits from the lead and rejoins in seventh
Lap 15: van Gisbergen pits after a long middle stint, with De Pasquale regaining the lead
Lap 18: Goddard spins
Lap 19: Waters and McLaughlin collide at Turn 1, with the Monster Energy driver instructed to hand third position to his fellow Ford driver
Lap 20: van Gisbergen attacks De Pasquale and sends the Penrite Commodore into a spin before redressing the situation on his own, allowing De Pasquale to take the race victory and round win
Provisional Round 6 Eseries standings
Position | Driver | Points |
1 | Scott McLaughlin | 1419 |
2 | Shane van Gisbergen | 1363 |
3 | Cameron Waters | 1336 |
4 | Anton De Pasquale | 1179 |
5 | Chaz Mostert | 1094 |
6 | Andre Heimgartner | 996 |
7 | Will Davison | 937 |
8 | Garry Jacobson | 937 |
9 | Fabian Coulthard | 880 |
10 | Bryce Fullwood | 866 |
11 | Lee Holdsworth | 830 |
12 | Nick Percat | 820 |
13 | Jack Le Brocq | 814 |
14 | Jake Kostecki | 746 |
15 | Zane Goddard | 714 |
16 | Scott Pye | 672 |
17 | Todd Hazelwood | 659 |
18 | Mark Winterbottom | 647 |
19 | Macauley Jones | 617 |
20 | Jamie Whincup | 577 |
21 | Alex Davison | 545 |
22 | David Reynolds | 503 |
23 | Rick Kelly | 499 |
24 | Chris Pither | 408 |
26* | Jack Smith | 360 |
*Wildcard driver Will Power sits 25th in the standings with 366 points from his cameos in Round 3 and 6
