How De Pasquale defied Brown in 'intense' start

The first race start in 104 days could have gone any which way - but Anton De Pasquale was glad the outcome favoured him.

De Pasquale won Race 20 from pole position at the Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight.

The Shell V-Power Racing Team driver was imperious en route to a third career win, with series leader Shane van Gisbergen five seconds down the road.

However, a fast-starting Will Brown - who launched from a career-best second - kept De Pasquale guessing in the early seconds.

De Pasquale won the jump, but Erebus Motorsport rookie Brown ran alongside the #11 Shell Mustang through Turn 1.

Brown stayed with his WD-40 Commodore into Turn 2, and ranged alongside De Pasquale.

Brown was hung out wide at the off-camber corner, allowing Will Davison into play.

However, Davison was fed into the grass exiting Turn 3 - and from there, it was a race between 26-year-old De Pasquale and 23-year-old Brown.

“It was pretty intense,” De Pasquale said of the start.

“The start was alright, then I bogged it down and we were side-by-side and flat out through [Turn] 1.

“He went pretty deep; I went with him into [Turn] 2.

“I don’t think we touched, which was pretty cool. We popped out the other side and we were good.

“It’s like that around here; if you get an even start you can run side-by-side through a couple of corners, and it works its way around.”

De Pasquale and Brown pitted together on lap 15. De Pasquale took on two tyres, and Brown four.

The catch was that Brown's stop was slow, handing De Pasquale a free kick. Brown made up ground in the closing laps, but could only manage fifth.

For De Pasquale, it was a race in which he could prove his front-running pace, having topped both practice sessions, qualifying and the shootout.

“It was a good day at the races,” De Pasquale beamed.

“It was good to convert… I’ve had a couple get away this year, a couple from me, a couple from the car.

“To have a smooth day is good. Obviously we have a couple more weeks here. It’s been pretty racy so far.

“We’ll keep going for more, but obviously the competition is going to be tough."

It was De Pasquale's second win from pole in 2021 - but on three other occasions, he failed to convert.

After he raced from pole to victory in Race 10 at The Bend, he suffered an engine drama in the following race from the lead.

He scored Race 12 victory in Darwin, but was taken out at Turn 1. Then, in Townsville, he was beaten to victory by Cameron Waters.

Having been chased to his Race 10 win by Davison and van Gisbergen, Saturday night's race was by far De Pasquale's most simple to win once Brown was out of contention.

“I’m not a big stats guy, but it doesn’t really matter until the race,” De Pasquale said.

“Practice and qualifying don’t mean much when the race starts.

“The race is the most important bit, that’s the one we care about.

“It’s converting in the races, that’s what we want.

“To get that straight up after a long break is good. To reward the team for their efforts is awesome.”

Cars will return to the track on Sunday at 10:30am AEDT for Race 21 qualifying.