Anton De Pasquale responds to late Gold Coast drama
De Pasquale survives late scare to qualify for Semi Final
Late Camaro stops helped De Pasquale reach Sandown
General Motors spearhead Anton De Pasquale was relieved to qualify for Sandown, despite his spot being sealed courtesy of late drama in Race 32.
For a time, De Pasquale looked set to lose the last Semi Final spot to Toyota rival Ryan Wood, who was let through by teammate Chaz Mostert.
Starting 21st, De Pasquale was in trouble after copping a lap 1 puncture, and sat 17th and out of the Finals in the final stint.
As it were, the Camaros of Erebus Motorsport rookie Jarrod Hughes and PremiAir Racing driver Cooper Murray made late stops for fuel, gifting crucial points back to De Pasquale.
Ironically, fuel shortages helped De Pasquale progress, two weeks after he lost the Repco Bathurst 1000 on the final lap.
De Pasquale was probed by Supercars champion Mark Winterbottom on the broadcast post-race, and suggested manufacturers have discussions over which drivers are left, and how best the brand can win.
Critically, under Supercars rules, manufacturers cannot influence a race result. Orders can be made by teams, and teams alone.
“You're always gonna look after… I think all brands will have that chat and whoever's left is always gonna get looked after. We've seen that last year,” De Pasquale said.
“It's part of the game. Obviously, there's nothing more to that. Obviously, they were super quick in the lane, so…
“Fuel and running out of fuel is not something I'm really comfortable talking with because it's still a bit sensitive to me. So, yeah, not really too sure how it went down.
“But yeah, obviously excited to get those positions late. Obviously the chance yesterday to swap positions and get some extra points, and we didn't take that, not knowing what was gonna happen today. So, that's something we'll look at as well.”
Elimination would have put the cherry on top of a disastrous fortnight for De Pasquale, who continued: “We're still not over Bathurst. I don't think I'll get over it.
“We can put that to side and focus on what this is. And obviously would've been a double whammy to get knocked out first round of Finals after that.
“So to get to Sandown and give ourselves a chance, that's all what we're about. Obviously we're pretty well aware that we're up against some good competitors, and we're not the favourites heading in there and all that, which is fine.
“But we're excited to throw everything at it, walk out of there with our heads held high, win or lose. But, we're going in there to win."
De Pasquale will enter the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 from October 23-25 as the seventh and final seed in the whittled down Finals field.
