Awesome Anton: Race 20 takeaways
The Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight has so far belonged to Anton De Pasquale.
Fastest in Practice 1. Fastest in Practice 2. Provisional Race 20 pole, a fifth ARMOR ALL Pole of 2021, and a crushing race win.
De Pasquale cantered to his third career victory on Saturday night at Sydney Motorsport Park.
It was his second win of 2021, the 26-year-old adding to his Race 10 victory at May's OTR SuperSprint.
Saturday featured the 125th pole and 139th race win for Dick Johnson Racing, which currently runs under the Shell V-Power Racing Team banner.
De Pasquale helped Ford to its fifth win of the season; it was also the 43rd win for the Mustang GT model.
The Mustang is now two wins short of the 45 recorded by the Falcon FG X, and Holden's Commodore VX.
When the race got underway, 104 days will have passed since the previous race of the 2021 season in Townsville in July. It marked the third longest gap between races in championship history.
It was only shorter only than the 112 days between the penultimate and final rounds of the 1970 season, and the 125 days between the Adelaide 500 and first Sydney Motorsport Park round of last year’s COVID-affected championship.
Shane van Gisbergen was second; it was his 16th podium from 20 starts in 2021.
Van Gisbergen extended his series lead to a season-high 312 points. It's the first time this season van Gisbergen has led the championship by more than 300 points.
It was also van Gisbergen's 132nd career podium.
Brodie Kostecki, conversely, claimed his second career podium.
The Erebus Motorsport rookie finished second behind van Gisbergen at Sandown in March.
Kostecki unseated teammate Will Brown for 10th in the points. Kostecki recorded 86 points for third, and Brown 74 for fifth.
Brown, who made his first front row start, claimed the five bonus points for setting the fastest lap.
The margin between the teammates is now just one point.
Van Gisbergen (sixth to second), Mark Winterbottom (16th to 12th), Macauley Jones (20th to 16th) and Garry Jacobson (21st to 17th) were the biggest movers.
Tickford Racing duo Cameron Waters (seventh to 13th) and Jack Le Brocq (15th to 21st) were the biggest losers.
Waters dropped from third to fifth in the standings; Chaz Mostert moved into third, with Will Davison jumping to fourth.
Cars will return to the track on Sunday at 10:30am AEDT for Race 21 qualifying.
