De Pasquale refuses to take backwards step

Anton De Pasquale is determined to keep Team 18 on the right track when the 2026 season resumes in New Zealand this weekend.

After bursting out of the blocks in Sydney, De Pasquale dropped from fourth to fifth in the championship after a rollercoaster Melbourne showing.

Heading to the ITM Taupō Super 440, De Pasquale is 77 points ahead of the Finals cut-line, and 131 points behind championship leader Brodie Kostecki.

Taupō hasn't been kind to Team 18, which despite a strong front row for De Pasquale last year, is ranked 10th of 11 teams for points scored across the 2024 and 2025 events.

After falling back to the pack in Melbourne, De Pasquale wants to make an impression on the field at the first chance of asking in New Zealand, and keep General Motors in the fight.

“Taupō is a really cool track. It’s quite technical with a lot of direction change, but it also rewards flow and rhythm when you get it right,” the 2024 Jason Richards Trophy winner said.

“We had good speed there last year and were in the mix across the weekend, so it’s a track I’m looking forward to going back to. The goal is to build on what we’ve learned and roll out with a strong package from the start.

"We’ve had a solid start to the year and hopefully we can roll out strong from where we were last year and keep pushing forwards."

Of the 15 active drivers who have contested all Taupō races, De Pasquale's teammate David Reynolds has the 14th best race average, a lowly 17.0.

The 2017 Bathurst winner, who will bring up 500 races on Sunday, suggested the Soft/Super Soft tyre dynamic will also shake up the field.

“Taupō is a really good track but it’s tough,” Reynolds said.

"There are multiple surfaces, some new, some old so you go from a lot of grip to not much grip very quickly. That makes it hard to set the car up and understand what you’re feeling, but if you can be consistent across all of it, you’ll be quick.

“It’s a short weekend with limited practice, so you don’t have much time to make big changes. You need to roll out of the truck confident in your set-up, and I think we’ve been doing a much better job of that lately.

“The mixed tyre format will be interesting too. You practice on the Soft and then go into qualifying on the Super Soft, and it feels like a completely different car.

"As drivers, it’s always a challenge to understand how much grip you’ve got on both, but it should make things interesting.”

Track action in Taupō commences on Friday.