De Pasquale: We lacked general car speed

Anton De Pasquale says the Shell V-Power Racing Team suffered from a lack of “general” car speed at Winton.

Shell V-Power Mustangs missed the podium at an event for the first time in 2022.

De Pasquale is now 281 points behind series leader Shane van Gisbergen.

Van Gisbergen outscored De Pasquale by 117 points at the Pizza Hut Winton SuperSprint.

The Ford team is also now 137 points behind Red Bull Ampol Racing.

Penrite Racing, Tickford Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti United also outscored the team.

Will Davison dropped to fourth overall behind Cam Waters, who won two races.

“No, not really,” De Pasquale said on Supercars’ Cool Down Lap podcast when asked if he was content with his weekend.

“Top 10s are what we had, but not what we go racing for.

“Obviously, we want to be fighting at the front, and where those guys were.

“We didn’t have that this weekend, and it’s something we need to get back for the next round.”

The team was playing catch-up from the get-go, with Davison unable to qualify in the top 10.

The next stop on the calendar, Darwin’s Hidden Valley, proved fruitful for the team in 2021.

De Pasquale and Davison shared all three poles, with the latter scoring two podiums.

The former reiterated the team must be prepared should Shell V-Power Fords roll out poorly at the beginning of a weekend.

“We qualified on the second row for the last one,” he said.

“That was as good as we were for the weekend.

“We still sort of fell back with a bit of speed… just general car speed, we didn’t have.

“It’s something that could pop up again, so we have to be ready for it."

The 2022 season will resume in Darwin next month. Purchase your tickets now.