De Pasquale laments fuel issue, Wood contact in finale

A front row start for Anton De Pasquale offered a glimpse of real promise for Chevrolet in Christchurch, but from lights out, the race would continually unravel.

First, a poor start saw the #18 DEWALT Camaro finish the first lap in fourth, before contact with Ryan Wood at Turn 2 following the first Safety Car restart saw De Pasquale tumble even further back to 10th.

However, that was only compounded as De Pasquale was forced to save fuel, an issue that also impacted teammate David Reynolds.

It was a frustrating end to an otherwise solid weekend for the DEWALT Camaro, which had finished sixth, fifth, and fifth in the opening three races of the weekend.

"For us to get on the front row was good, because we qualified 17th on that tyre [on Saturday], so that was really positive,” De Pasquale said on Supercars' Equip Super Cool Down Lap podcast.

“Had an average start, got a bit of wheel-spin, got a little bit greedy with it. Then Woody had me off and then was sort of stuck saving fuel for a long time.

“We had a bit of fuel dramas, and just drove around slow really. I think we were good enough for that P6, which is what we've been sort of all week.”

Even a late Safety Car couldn't do much to salvage a result, though the wild moment between Chaz Mostert and Brodie Kostecki would promote the #18 Chevrolet up to 11th in the final results.

However, while the 10-time race winner admits that he could've jagged a fourth top six finish for the weekend had things panned his way, however there is still work to be done to catch the key championship contenders.

All told, General Motors' winless streak now stands at 11 races, its longest since 1993.

“It’s something we'll investigate, don’t exactly know how or what, but we're saving a lot more than everyone else. A lot of people were in a sort of fuel save race, but we were on a pretty aggressive fuel save," De Pasquale explained.

"So can't really do much in a race like this with fast cars around you doing that. So, that sort of cemented where we were. But overall it's alright. We're sort of floating around that same position.

"We're still a bit of a gap to the front sort of four, five, they're real fast, and we're sort of feel like we're in that next next bunch to the best of the rest almost at this point. We'll keep working."

De Pasquale was able to further entrench himself within the Finals bubble in Christchurch, remaining seventh in the championship standings but now 94 points clear of 11th-placed Mostert.

The 2026 Repco Supercars Championship continues next month at the Tyrepower Tasmania Super 440 from May 22-24.