De Pasquale not content with top 10s as GM spell continues
Anton De Pasquale not content with top 10s as GM spell continues
Just three Camaro drivers in the top 15, compared to eight this time last year
GM on longest winless run since Mustangs won nine straight in 2019
Team 18 spearhead Anton De Pasquale managed to bring home some points from a quiet Taupō, yet isn’t content with top 10s as the gap extends to the top.
De Pasquale ended Taupō as the top ranked Chevrolet driver in eighth for the weekend, just ahead of Matt Stone Racing Camaro rival Jack Le Brocq.
The #18 DEWALT Camaro raced from 15th to eighth in the first race of the day, before a slow pit stop dropped De Pasquale from seventh on the grid to 10th at the flag.
Either side of his Sydney victory, it has been a rollercoaster for De Pasquale in 2026, yet the margins to the top and the gap to safety have been contrasting stories.
De Pasquale was just 62 points from the lead and 66 points ahead of 11th after Sydney. After Melbourne, he was 131 down on the leader, but 77 points clear of 11th. After Taupō, the gap to the top blew out to 292 points, with the margin to 11th reduced to 69 points.
Camaros are now winless in seven starts, General Motors’ longest winless streak since Mustangs won nine straight in the middle of the 2019 season.
“We moved forward really well in the first one. We had great tyre life and probably qualified out of position, so it was good to make those spots back up,” said De Pasquale, who made a point pre-round to keep moving forward.
“Both races in the top 10 is okay, but not exactly what we want. We’re chasing a bit more speed heading into Christchurch.”
De Pasquale’s teammate David Reynolds was struck down by alternator issues in the opener, yet managed to move forward from 16th to 10th. Come the 200km race, and Reynolds struggled with grip to fall to 19th.
De Pasquale (sixth), Le Brocq (eighth) and Reynolds (13th) are the only Camaro drivers in the top 15 heading to Christchurch. For what it's worth, there were eight Camaro drivers in the top 15 after Round 3 last year — De Pasquale, Broc Feeney, Will Brown, Andre Heimgartner, Nick Percat, Cameron Hill, James Golding and Le Brocq.
Of that eight, only De Pasquale and Le Brocq returned in Camaros this season, though Le Brocq moved from Erebus to Matt Stone Racing. Feeney, Brown and Golding are now in Fords, Heimgartner and Hill are in Toyotas, and Percat has retired.
“The Super Soft race wasn’t too bad. We started 16th and had a few dramas in the race,” Reynolds said.
"We had a failing alternator, or it failed, so the car wasn’t charging. In the Gen3 era there’s a lot more electronics than Gen2, so once the battery starts draining, everything begins to shut down.
“In the last five laps I was struggling just to drive in a straight line. The car was cutting out, my cool suit stopped working, everything stopped working. That’s just a function of these new cars being fly-by-wire. We ended up 10th, so all in all not too bad a result.
“Then onto the Soft tyre race and I don’t really know what to say about it. I just didn’t have a lot of pace. Had a few dramas, but nothing to write home about, the car was just pretty slow and we ended up 19th.
“I had no rear grip. It felt like someone was spilling oil on the tyres on entry and exit, so it made it super difficult to drive and not a lot of enjoyment in that last one.
“The Super Soft race was good, the Soft race not so much. Hopefully we can learn a lot and fix it for the next round."
