CAN victory in Townsville be the catalyst for an Anton De Pasquale resurgence?
De Pasquale was signed by Dick Johnson Racing as Scott McLaughlin’s successor ahead of 2021 having emerged as one of Supercars’ brightest young talents during a stint at Erebus Motorsport.
Year one with DJR netted six wins, five of which coming in a run of hot form at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Year two started with him being Shane van Gisbergen’s closest championship threat throughout the first half.
But after a memorable last-corner dice with SVG in Townsville, for which he was stripped of victory, De Pasquale found himself mired in a slump.
Across the final six rounds of 2022, De Pasquale was outdone by teammate Will Davison by five podiums (including two wins) to two.
Through the first six rounds this year, Davison holds the upper hand in head-to-head qualifying by a score of 12-5.
But, armed with extra tyres due to a DNF the day before, De Pasquale broke through in Race 2 of the Townsville 500 last Sunday for DJR’s first win in Gen3 and his first at Supercars Championship level in more than a year.
Instantly, De Pasquale was propelled from 20th to 16th in the championship, and perhaps there’s a pep in his step once more.
Asked if the result could be the turning point of his year, De Pasquale replied: “Not sure, I’ll let you know at the next round if the season is turned around.
“We definitely have had more competitiveness the last two or three rounds.
“We haven’t quite got results for it but there have been signs in practice or qualifying here and there which is not how we like to go racing, we like to do it every session, but big signs was just getting everything aligned on the right day which we’re aiming towards.
“We tried some stuff (on Sunday) so that might be another direction for this kind of circuit but we’ll know in future.
“But it’s really cool when you can sit down with the guys and work out what you need and it translates to the next day and you have got pace for it so that was a highlight.”
De Pasquale heaped praise on the hard work of his crew, for whom the success was “a good buzz”.
“It’s the first trophy for a lot of the guys in the team as well that are new to our team so it’s an awesome feeling,” he said.
Fittingly, next up on the calendar is De Pasquale’s happiest hunting ground, SMP, for the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight on July 28-30.
