EXCLUSION HURTS DE PASQUALE IN CHASE FOR $25,000 BONUS

SHANE van Gisbergen may have won only one race last weekend but he leads the way in the chase for the Beaurepaires Sydney Cup.

The trophy will be awarded to the highest point scorer across the four rounds at Sydney Motorsport Park, while the winner will also receive a $25,000 cash prize.

Van Gisbergen holds sway on 272 points with a sizable margin of 42 points back to Will Davison in second place on 230, while Will Brown (219), Nick Percat (214) and Brodie Kostecki (211) complete the top five.

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However, the Kiwi is only leading the standings of the mini-series due to Anton De Pasquale’s exclusion from Race 2.

The Dick Johnson Racing driver swept all three pole positions plus the first and last races of the weekend and crossed the line in fifth place in the second race before being disqualified.

The team had accidentally fitted a tyre from a set allocated to teammate Will Davison at De Pasquale’s pit stop resulting in the #11 Ford Mustang’s exclusion and a $20,000 fine, with half suspended pending any repeat breaches before the end of the season.

“We had a little mishap in the pit stop there,” DJR team principal Ben Croke said.

“The wrong tyre was fitted to Anton’s car. It’s a mistake that we made, we’ve put our hand up, we accept the consequences.”

Along with costing the team $10,000, the exclusion stripped De Pasquale of the 74 points he would otherwise have earnt for fifth place.

Without the lost points, De Pasquale would instead be leading van Gisbergen by seven points, instead of trailing him by 67.

The result would also have been the first time De Pasquale scored the most points across a championship weekend, or a ’round’ win under the pre-2009 metrics.

A total of 930 points (including bonus points for the fastest lap of the race) are still up for grabs across the three remaining ‘Sydney Cup’ rounds at Sydney Motorsport Park, starting with this weekend’s ARMOR ALL Sydney SuperNight.

POINTS: Beaurepaires Sydney Cup after Round 1

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Car	Points
1	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Triple Eight	Holden	272
2	17	Will Davison	DJR	Ford	230
3	9	Will Brown	Erebus	Holden	219
4	8	Nick Percat	BJR	Holden	214
5	99	Brodie Kostecki	Erebus	Holden	211
6	88	Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight	Holden	210
7	11	Anton De Pasquale	DJR	Ford	205
8	25	Chaz Mostert	WAU	Holden	196
9	3	Tim Slade	BRT	Ford	182
10	26	David Reynolds	KGR	Ford	158
11	6	Cameron Waters	Tickford	Ford	156
12	7	Andre Heimgartner	KGR	Ford	144
13	18	Mark Winterbottom	Team 18	Holden	134
14	5	Jack Le Brocq	Tickford	Ford	130
15	14	Todd Hazelwood	BJR	Holden	118
16	96	Macauley Jones	BJR	Holden	114
17	2	Bryce Fullwood	WAU	Holden	114
18	44	James Courtney	Tickford	Ford	106
19	20	Scott Pye	Team 18	Holden	102
20	4	Jack Smith	BJR	Holden	94
21	22	Garry Jacobson	Team SYDNEY	Holden	90
22	34	Jake Kostecki	MSR	Holden	88
23	35	Zane Goddard	MSR	Holden	78
24	19	Fabian Coulthard	Team SYDNEY	Holden	72