Eseries favourites ready to counter at Silverstone and Barcelona

Pre-event favourites for the BP Supercars All Stars Eseries, Shane van Gisbergen and Anton De Pasquale, have vowed to bounce back from their rough opening round performances.

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The pair, along with two-time defending Virgin Australia Supercars Champion Scott McLaughlin, were tipped by many as the trio to catch prior to the start of the 10-week competition.

While McLaughlin avoided major damage and claimed two race victories from the opening three races, the Holdens of van Gisbergen and De Pasquale were in the thick of major incidents and pileups throughout the night.

De Pasquale started the night as expected, qualifying for ARMOR ALL Pole Position for races 1 & 3 at Phillip Island and Monza respectively.

Van Gisbergen qualified just behind his Holden counterpart, starting on the front row in 2nd for the opening race and in 3rd behind De Pasquale and McLaughlin for the race at Monza.

Despite strong qualification, the pair couldn’t match the Ford Mustang of McLaughlin off either start, and both De Pasquale and van Gisbergen ran into trouble early in each race.

The poor starts dropped them back into the pack that was mixed with both experienced an inexperienced iRacing drivers where a number of multi-car accidents effectively ended both favourites’ chances.

Overall it wasn’t a happy night for De Pasquale. He finished 8th, 13th and 23rd despite his strong qualifying. He sits 16th on the Coates Hire Leaderboard after round one.

De Pasquale came close to victory in the second race of the night. The 24-year old fought to the front in the dying stages of the race but was handed a 30-second post-race penalty by Driving Standards Advisor, Craig Baird, for contacting Jack Le Brocq on the final corner. That pushed him from 1st back to a 13th place finish.

“I think a 30 second penalty is a bit harsh for having a dip. Obviously, I had overlap so I can’t disappear on the apex. I tried to put a good show on for everyone and ended up in the steward’s room. Anyway, just got to carry on,” De Pasquale said in the broadcast.

Showing he is out for stronger results at Silverstone (UK) and Barcelona (Spain) in this Wednesday night’s races, De Pasquale has upgraded his simulator technology at home in recent days.

“It’s pretty ironic I got the first penalty in the Eseries after I saw a few cars getting rolled and stuff like that but just got to get back into it for the next race and hopefully put a good show on,” the Penrite Racing driver said.

“I think it was received really well by the fans. It’s always good when people are watching, and all the teams and drivers are getting behind the Series.

“It [the Monza race] could have been an awesome race but as we go on it should improve as more drivers get more practice and keep it on the track so I think the racing will just get better.

“I’m looking forward to the next round; I know Silverstone and Barcelona and I think most of the guys will know what to expect.

“I did have fun in parts. It’s never fun racing anywhere when you get crashed out and penalised, that’s pretty frustrating, but overall it was cool, and we’ll come back and have a better week.”

Van Gisbergen is 14th in the standings heading into Wednesday’s second round. He says part of his training for this week will include helping his Red Bull Holden teammate and iRacing novice Jamie Whincup.

“First round didn't go well for myself results-wise, but I still had fun,” van Gisbergen said.

“I felt like I was getting caught in a demolition derby wherever I went, but from what I’ve seen, the fans found it entertaining which is the main thing.

“Unfortunately I got shunted early in the Monza race which means I couldn't finish, but I wasn't the only one - it was absolute carnage.

“I was talking to JDub a little bit throughout the races trying to help him get up to speed with all the technology, so hopefully this week we'll have more time to practice and help each other out.

“I’ll put a few more hours into the sim over the next week and get ready for Barcelona and Silverstone."

Qualifying for the second round of racing at Silverstone (UK) and Barcelona (Spain) will begin on Wednesday night at 6:00pm AEST, will be broadcast exclusively on Fox Sports 506 before racing begins at 7:00pm.

From 7:00pm as was the case for Round One, the races will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 506, Kayo, Sky Sports (NZ) and 10 Play. Online fans can watch races via Supercars Facebook Page and Supercars’ Teams Facebook Pages.