Team 18 suffered chastening Bathurst defeat on Sunday
Anton De Pasquale ran out of fuel on last lap, Brodie Kostecki won
Both Team 18 Camaros infamously ran out of fuel late in 2023
A defining debrief is coming up for Team 18 following a Bathurst disaster that left team owner Charlie Schwerkolt "gutted" and "heartbroken".
The General Motors homologation team snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in a remarkable conclusion to Sunday's Repco Bathurst 1000, which fell the way of Brodie Kostecki, Todd Hazelwood and Dick Johnson Racing.
De Pasquale, Lee Holdsworth and Team Principal Adrian Burgess have all fronted up to the drama of lap 161, which saw the #18 DEWALT Camaro cough on Mountain Straight.
A shattered Schwerkolt bravely fronted up on Supercars' Equip Super Cool Down Lap podcast, which helped outline what's next for the team: debrief what happened, determine next steps, and come back together for the Finals.
"I've got no words really," Schwerkolt said on Supercars' Equip Super Cool Down Lap podcast.
"I'm gutted, heartbroken. It's a cruel place.
"But we didn't get it right. There's some correlation problem, something, I'm not sure. But obviously our drivers did an amazing job. The boys and girls in the team did an amazing job.
"We had the best car probably for the weekend and really proud of everything. But we've got to solve that issue, whatever it is, and sort it out. But I feel for all our partners, fans, everyone."
The Mount Waverley squad infamously ran both cars short back in 2023, which led to sweeping changes in the team.
When asked if the latest occurrence would prompt further changes, Schwerkolt refused to weigh in, saying: "No idea. Can't answer that."
Critically, Burgess insisted he needs to bring his crew back together to push De Pasquale towards redemption in the Finals, which commences on the Gold Coast next weekend.
“As a team, we’ve got to regroup. We’ve got to support the people,” Burgess told media.
“Clearly we’ve got to understand how it happened and where it happened, and then support those people and improve the process so that it can’t happen again.”
