De Pasquale bites back after making major championship statement
Anton De Pasquale makes major championship statement in Sydney
Team 18 driver leads points for first time after winning from pole in Race 2
De Pasquale regarded as GM's best hope for glory this season
Anton De Pasquale could be forgiven for taking umbrage to questions that General Motors needed a “star driver,” given he was quietly sitting there all along.
After taking a controlled victory from pole position at the DUNLOP Sydney 500 on Saturday, De Pasquale put many doubters to pasture, as did his team.
Since GM lost Triple Eight to Ford, there have been countless headlines since GM itself quipped that it would chase star power in its driving ranks.
The likes of Cam Waters and Matt Payne have been bandied around, before Will Brown, Broc Feeney, Brodie Kostecki and Kai Allen signed long term deals with their current teams.
After joining Team 18 and returning to GM last season, De Pasquale has been putting his name back in lights, race by race. Under lights on Saturday, his name was the headline.
If there was ever a statement to make that GM is in good hands, it’s this one — De Pasquale leads the championship for the first time in his career.
When asked about the storyline, De Pasquale smiled, saying: “You've been hanging onto that headline for about almost six months now,.
"I don't read it, but that was a long time ago, wasn't it? I've been asked that for a long time."
Saturday's win was just Team 18's second in Supercars, but it couldn't have come at a better time.
While he acknowledged the hole Triple Eight left in GM's stocks, De Pasquale reiterated that he hasn’t much time for critics of his team, adding: "I haven't really spent long listening to people, doesn't get you too far.
“Obviously there's a big responsibility for us. We're filling shoes with aren't really fillable obviously, so we have to make our own path and I think that's the best way we're looking at it.
“We’re not trying to replace who was there before. We're trying to sort of make our own identity and I think we're doing a good job of that."
Supercars action at the final day of the DUNLOP Sydney 500 begins with Boost Mobile Qualifying for Race 3 at 12:10pm local time.
