De Pasquale's blunt assessment as new GM era kicks off
Anton De Pasquale the only Chevrolet driver in top 11 in last night’s race
De Pasquale finished 0.3s behind Cam Waters in first race of 2026
David Reynolds "worked my absolute ass off to start 12th and finish 12th"
Anton De Pasquale says there’s "work to do” to catch the leading Fords in Sydney as General Motors’ new era kicked off in Sydney.
In the first race without Triple Eight in the GM stable since the 2009 season finale, De Pasquale came home sixth, and was the only Camaro in the top 11.
De Pasquale and Matt Stone Racing rookie Zach Bates were the only Chevrolet drivers to reach Q2, but Bates received a rude introduction to his full-time Supercars career courtesy of Brodie Kostecki in the race.
David Reynolds started and finished 12th, while PremiAir Racing rookie Jayden Ojeda recovered from a poor start to finish 13th, also where he started.
Beyond that, Erebus Motorsport driver Cooper Murray suffered a steering failure and retired, while MSR's Jack Le Brocq (17th), PremiAir's Declan Fraser (19th) and Erebus rookie Jobe Stewart (23rd) had quiet nights.
Having passed the ailing Will Brown and finished 0.3s behind Cam Waters, De Pasquale was by far and away GM’s best hope on a night dominated by Broc Feeney and the two Blanchard Racing Team Mustangs of Aaron Cameron and James Golding.
On his night, De Pasquale said: “Sydney first race, sprint race at night. Finished sixth. Pretty okay race for us.
"Just didn't have enough rear to keep with the front guys and lost the spot sort of through the pit cycles and stuff, but it was a close battle with a fair few of us.
“So thereabouts. A little bit [of] work to do. So hopefully we can go a little bit better tomorrow because we're not far away.”
It was a night of little reward for Reynolds, who added: “Worked my absolute ass off to start 12th and finish 12th.
"So a little bit happened in the race, but nothing to really write home about. Need to make the car a little bit better and qualify a bit better and have a bigger run tomorrow.
“A big Saturday coming up, two qualifying sessions, race, Top Ten Shootout, all that stuff. So need to tune it up and make it better.”
Cars return to the track on Saturday for Boost Mobile Qualifying at 3:40pm local time, followed by the Shootout at 4:35pm and Race 2 at 7:35pm. The Seven Network, Fox Sports and KAYO Sports take the action live.
