HOW $25,000 SYDNEY CUP POINTS STAND AHEAD OF DECIDER

ANTON De Pasquale has emerged as Shane van Gisbergen’s closest threat for the $25,000 Sydney Cup prize ahead of the final leg of the four-round contest this weekend.

Triple Eight’s van Gisbergen leads the standings on 752 points over Dick Johnson Racing’s de Pasquale (709 points) after the latter top-scored the BP Ultimate Sydney SuperSprint.

Jamie Whincup (691 points) and Will Brown (649 points) have moved up to third and fourth respectively, while a difficult run for Will Davison (644 points) dropped him from second to fifth.

With 300 points available across this weekend’s pair of 250km races, Nick Percat (598 points), Chaz Mostert (577 points), Tim Slade (487 points) and Scott Pye (453 points) are also in mathematical contention.

De Pasquale is threatening for the prize despite sitting just seventh after the first weekend due to a Race 2 disqualification for using a tyre set from teammate Davison’s allocation.

The Shell V-Power Racing young gun had placed fifth in that race, meaning he lost 74 points that would otherwise now have him on top of the standings.

De Pasquale has been the star of the three Sydney events thus far, top-scoring the second and third weekends; the first two ’round wins’ of his career.

He’s recorded six pole positions and five wins from nine attempts across the three Sydney rounds to date.

This weekend’s Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight will feature Top 10 Shootouts on both days, followed by 250km races that feature both the Hard and Super Soft compound tyres.

Sydney Cup standings after three of four rounds