De Pasquale thrilled as crucial pieces fall into place

The seeds of Anton De Pasquale’s Darwin victory had been sewn well before the chequered flag, with the Chevrolet star revealing he knew he had a car capable of fighting from the moment he rolled out.

Unlike Melbourne and New Zealand, De Pasquale was a factor from the get-go in Darwin. As it was in Sydney and Tasmania, both Team 18 Camaros were towards the top of the time sheets from practice.

A front row start for Friday’s race was proof, but the danger remained of regression over the weekend. A shocking run to 20th in Saturday qualifying brought the critics back to the fore, before De Pasquale fought back to eighth amid a hot throttle pedal.

All the pieces came together on Sunday, and driver and team executed to perfection. For De Pasquale, it was that simple — the ingredients had always been there.

That shows on the scoreboard — De Pasquale is a staggering 368 points better off than he was last season, with Team 18 an impressive 458 points and four positions higher in the teams' championship.

“I wake up every morning... I was gonna say feeling like I could win, but also feeling like I've got no idea what's gonna happen,” De Pasquale smiled on Supercars' Equip Super Cool Down Lap podcast.

“That’s the beauty of it. Our sport is harder than ever.

"I think we knew we had a really good car Friday. We thought we learned some stuff Saturday. Our race car was really good, we just qualified way down the back.

“Putting all those things together, yeah, we won the race today.”

De Pasquale’s Sydney victory was an immediate statement to the field that GM and Team 18 weren’t going to be also-rans. However, De Pasquale and Reynolds fell back in Melbourne and New Zealand, encouraging the critics.

De Pasquale was third for the round in Tasmania, but it still wasn’t enough for some, Holden legend Mark Skaife firing venom GM and Team 18’s way.

In the best way possible, the talking was done on the track on Sunday. However, that didn’t stop Team 18’s Charlie Schwerkolt and Adrian Burgess firing back at Skaife, who was entitled to his own right of reply after being called out.

Through it all, De Pasquale has kept it measured, although didn’t shy away from the “critics” line.

In a promising sign for GM fans, there could be more to come, De Pasquale quipping that the balance is better overall, and reiterating that you can't win a race as tough, fast and competitive as Sunday's with a bad car.

When asked if it was the best Team 18 Camaro he had driven, De Pasquale replied: “Probably not. It was good and it had some really good strengths, and in the lead I could really control.

"I'd say the car around Sydney earlier in the year, considering what we would say is the aero parity deficit at that time, I think that car was better.

"Obviously it still won that race, but I think our balance and stuff is a lot better now as a brand. Overall, obviously, the car was great.

"You can't win a race, especially a two pit stop race in the heat in a Supercar, with something shit."

De Pasquale is just 66 points from third in the championship heading to Townsville on July 10-12.