The brutal irony for De Pasquale in Courtney clash, Sandown podium

Anton De Pasquale played a starring role at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500, passing eventual winner Broc Feeney on merit during the finale, and coming home second.

It was a brilliant day for the Team 18 driver, who qualified second in trying conditions to give himself an opportunity to fight for victory. As the dust settled, though, the result paints a brutal picture for driver and team, who would be preparing to race for a championship if not for a moment of madness on the Gold Coast.

De Pasquale qualified for The Finals and was ranked seventh heading to last month's Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500. On the bubble, De Pasquale was under the most pressure.

On Saturday, he finished sixth and took his gap to the cut-line from +9 to +31. However, a post-race penalty put him back to +16 heading into Sunday.

In the closing stages of the Sunday race, De Pasquale clashed with James Courtney, and copped a 15-second penalty. The DEWALT Camaro crossed the line ninth, which would have got him into Sandown over Thomas Randle by two points. Instead, he missed out by 36.

The stage was set for De Pasquale to get redemption at Sandown, and he duly finished fourth for the round. Therein lies the heartbreaker: had everything played out at Sandown as is, De Pasquale's results would have been enough to qualify for the bp Adelaide Grand Final.

Had Saturday's results played out as they did, De Pasquale would have entered Sunday 63 points below the cut-line. Then, had Sunday also played out, with Matt Payne and Cam Waters colliding, De Pasquale would have climbed over Kai Allen, Payne and Waters to qualify for Adelaide.

While this hypothetical scenario is academic, given the points picture could have influenced how both races played out, De Pasquale's first season with Team 18 will give hope to General Motors fans for 2026.

However, the clash with incoming Team 18 co-driver Courtney not only cost De Pasquale a Semi Final spot, but also a shot at progressing to Adelaide with a chance at winning the championship.

For De Pasquale, the season-end goal remains getting wins and momentum for 2026, the 30-year-old saying post-race: " We are showing that we can be towards the front most weekends, which is really important. We're going to every track together for the first time, we're learning as we go as well.

"So, next year when we go back to everywhere again, we start from a better base and we understand what we're doing a bit better."

For team owner Charlie Schwerkolt, though, the 'what-if' remains: "Finishing an eighth and a second at this weekend, I would've thought... we would've been in The Finals, which would've been fantastic for his first year.

"It would've been amazing. Ironically, we put Courtney in the fence, he's here with us next year. Yeah, it's a real shame, but [De Pasquale] deserves to be in there and would've been great. But anyway, we'll have to do it all again next year."

If Anton De Pasquale qualified for Sandown Semi Final

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