De Pasquale accepts blame for Turn 8 crash

Penrite Racing driver Anton De Pasquale admits he paid the price for a driver error in his Turn 8 crash during ARMOR ALL Qualifying at the Superloop Adelaide 500.

The second-year Supercars driver started the 2019 season on a high on Thursday evening, when he set the pace in Practice 1.

It was a very different story 24 hours later, after De Pasquale crashed his Commodore at the high-speed sweeper on his first flying lap.

De Pasquale clipped the inside wall, which fired him into the outside barriers, leaving the Erebus crew with a long night ahead.

"It’s obviously really bad to do something like that," De Pasquale said. "It’s going to be a lot of work for the guys and girls.

"I feel really bad about myself. I just made a mistake and a big result. Obviously a long night ahead, but hopefully get it back tomorrow and go ahead.

"I’ve been struggling through there all weekend, turned in a bit early and just clipped the inside kerb, which clipped the wall and then over to the outside.

"It was just a driver error and I paid the price."

After setting the pace on Thursday evening, De Pasquale was 23rd and ninth in Friday's two practice sessions.

Erebus CEO Barry Ryan indicated there were no concerns about fixing the Commodore in time for Saturday's race, which De Pasquale would start at the rear of the grid.

Ryan said he expected De Pasquale would be "here all night helping us fix it".

"It just shows he’s still got a lot to learn and he’s still a young bloke," Ryan said.

"It’s just not thinking. You’re on your warm-up tyres, there’s no reason to try and go that fast through Turn 8.

"Anyway, he’s having a go and that’s what we’re here for, but I’m pretty disappointed in him."

Team-mate David Reynolds, meanwhile, was ninth in qualifying and will contest the ARMOR ALL Top 10 Shootout.