STEPHEN Grove says Anton De Pasquale’s growing relationship with Grove Racing’s GT program is no indication of a future Supercars tie-up.
Dick Johnson Racing driver De Pasquale has taken on an expanded role this year with the Grove Porsche effort, joining father-son Stephen and Brenton at the Bathurst 12 Hour in February and also committing to the 24 Hours of Spa and the Gulf 12 Hours at Abu Dhabi.
That has triggered some murmurs that De Pasquale could wind up in a Grove Mustang Supercar sooner than later; while the team owner admitted it’s “a valid question”, he explained why that prospect is not on the agenda.
Essentially it boils down to not mixing business with pleasure, with Matt Payne and David Reynolds the team’s Supercars drivers.
“Anton and Brenton are very close mates, like really close mates,” Stephen Grove told V8 Sleuth.
“We always said – which was driven from me – all the GT racing for us, we try to be as competitive as we can and we take it unbelievably serious but it had to have a fair element of fun not business.
“We gave Matt some experience (in GT3 last year) but that’s traditionally why even at Bathurst we didn’t use Dave or Matt, we wanted to just use people that are more aligned to the fun side rather than the business side.
“So I can see where people would draw that analogy but it’s really Brenton’s connection.
“We’ve sponsored Anton for many, many years and he’s a great guy and we will continue to work with people like that because once you start mixing racing at a really professional level in this country with racing overseas, it just becomes a bit clouded in my view.”
De Pasquale is currently in his sixth Supercars Championship season and third with DJR.
The Groves meanwhile have been rapidly assembling a powerhouse Supercars team, with team principal David Cauchi, technical director Grant McPherson and co-driver/mentor Garth Tander among its signings in the past 18 months or so.
