Anton De Pasquale has capped off a brilliant day of racing at Sydney Motorsport Park, seeing off a spirited challenge from his rivals to claim victory in Race 26 of the Supercars Championship.
Key points:
- De Pasquale wrapped up his fourth race win in three weekends
- Shane van Gisbergen finished second, with Will Brown third
- Van Gisbergen leads the championship standings ahead of Jamie Whincup
De Pasquale scored the maximum outcome for his Shell V-Power Racing team, having claimed pole, the win as well as the fastest lap of the race to continue his dominance on Sydney’s racetrack with his fourth win in three weekends.
He did it in style after two undercut attempts by Red Bull Ampol Racing were trumped by him and his team midway through the race, as he went on to power past Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen on consecutive laps.
The 26-year-old entered the field just behind Whincup after his stop but quickly passed the seven-time Supercars champion on turn nine, before doing it again on the same corner to overtake van Gisbergen a lap later.
His fresher tyres and hot form powered De Pasquale to an epic race win and his fifth in 2021.
When Bryce Fullwood broke down with 14 laps remaining, van Gisbergen had one more shot at the leader off the jump, but De Pasquale blitzed away to win by 1.891 seconds.
It was also a fantastic day for Erebus Racing young gun Will Brown, who registered his second podium finish in three weekends.
Brown passed teammate Brodie Kostecki for a shot at Whincup in third place, before leapfrogging him with three laps remaining.
Van Gisbergen leads the drivers’ championship standings on 2,506 points, with Whincup second (2,157) and De Pasquale’s teammate Will Davison (2,029) third.
De Pasquale is in sixth place on 1,794 points.
Race 27 of the championship gets underway at 1.50pm (AEDT) Sunday, followed by Race 28 at 4:45pm.
AAP/ABC
