Burgess defends 'elbows out' De Pasquale in wild Brown fight
Adrian Burgess backs "elbows out" Anton De Pasquale in Will Brown fight
Team 18 spearhead "gave back as good as he got" in dramatic battle
De Pasquale beat Brown to fourth after thrilling encounter on Sunday
Team 18 boss Adrian Burgess was among the most delighted to see Anton De Pasquale give Will Brown no breathing space in Sunday’s Tasmania finale.
De Pasquale beat Brown to fourth in Sunday’s race, which was dominated from pole position by championship leader Broc Feeney.
One of the key flashpoints of the race was the robust battle between Brown and De Pasquale. On lap 8, Brown fell into the clutches of De Pasquale, who got a run out of the hairpin.
After side to side contact, De Pasquale got down the inside through Turn 6, only for Brown to get down the inside through Turn 7. Brown had the inside line towards Turn 2, but De Pasquale squeezed down on the #888 Ford.
Brown surfed through the grass and gravel and rejoined behind De Pasquale, who won that battle, and eventually, the war by race’s end.
Team 18 Team Principal Burgess loved what he saw, despite sweating over a costly Saturday battle that saw De Pasquale muscled down the order through Turn 7.
"Well, I was just hoping we didn't have a repeat of the day before with Chaz when we got shuffled back and undid all the good work they'd done in qualifying,” Burgess told Supercars’ Equip Super Cool Down Lap podcast.
"Anton drove a cracker there, got his elbows out, and gave back as good as he got, so it was good to see.”
Sixth, fifth and fourth helped De Pasquale to third for the round points, behind Feeney and Matt Payne. The DEWALT Camaro driver jumped Ryan Wood to sixth in the standings.
“It was a decent day for us. Making the Shootout was really good and then we carried that pace into the race. We had some really good battles out there,” De Pasquale said.
“Unfortunately, we lost a bit of time in pit lane and lost third spot somewhere through there, so it would’ve been nice to battle for that on track, but unfortunately we couldn’t.
“Overall though, we had a really good car all weekend and were in the hunt for podiums pretty much every race. For us, that’s really positive, so hopefully we can carry that on to Darwin and keep moving forward.”
The 2026 season resumes in Darwin on June 19-21.
