'I'm spewing': De Pasquale's mixed emotions after Bathurst blunder

On a crazy afternoon at Mount Panorama, the race to claim the last four berths in the inaugural Repco Supercars Finals Series took as many turns as the race for the Repco Bathurst 1000 itself.

Whilst Matt Payne, David Reynolds, James Golding, and Cooper Murray engaged in all-out warfare in appalling Bathurst weather, there was just as much action for the minor places.

Andre Heimgartner was sensationally bumped out of a Finals berth just four corners from home, whilst Kai Allen fought several incidents and a rogue kangaroo on his way to locking up the 10th and final transfer spot.

Much was also made of Ryan Wood's heartbreaking failure whilst in strong contention to secure a maiden Bathurst win, however there was another contender whose plight flew somewhat under the radar amid the chaos.

Anton De Pasquale entered the weekend some 191 points clear of the cut-line, only needing a finish of 11th or better to secure his place in the post-season, irrespective of all other results.

However, when the #18 DEWALT Camaro piled into the wall at The Esses in the tricky conditions, it suddenly put his Finals hopes in serious jeopardy.

However, if there was a silver lining in the considerable cloud cover at Bathurst, it's that Charlie Schwerkolt's team knew exactly what to do. In fact, they'd done the exact same repair job just three nights prior.

Co-driver Harri Jones was the unfortunate victim of a puddle in the opening co-driver session of the weekend, slamming into the wall at the exit of The Chase in a huge 56g impact.

However, the car didn't lose any of it's speed despite the huge hit, with De Pasquale featuring in Saturday's Top Ten Shootout.

"No doubt, no we practiced that a few too many times over the weekend, repairing stuff," a sheepish De Pasquale said following the race.

"Full credit to them obviously getting me out, keeping me in the same place for The Finals. I didn't lose any points, which I expected to hitting the wall like that, so it's a big effort from everyone."

Classified in 20th and 20 laps down, De Pasquale maintained seventh in the standings, eventually finishing the regular season 71 points ahead of the cut-line.

Team 18 were well rewarded for their efforts, with the sister entry of David Reynolds/Lee Holdsworth claiming a superb runner-up finish.

De Pasquale is the final driver inside the Finals bubble heading into the Elimination Final at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, where the top seven Finals drivers will progress to Sandown.

When asked whether there was an emphasis on getting his car back out to to strengthen his Finals position, De Pasquale replied: "Yeah 100%, because you never know what's going to happen.

"I think we might've just been safe anyway, but still you want to be seventh to 10th, but I just got eager and crashed the thing which is not very smart when there's 80 laps to go or whatever it was.

"We'll learn from that one, but it looked like a hectic race. I'm spewing that I wasn't a part of it at the end."

De Pasquale is on the elimination bubble heading to the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on October 24-26. Tickets are on sale now.