De Pasquale wins Sunday tyre battle as title race heats up
In a week where parity adjustments saw the Supercars Ford Mustang receive an aerodynamic update, the Blue Oval broke a 15-race winless streak in the Australian Supercars Championship to claim victory in the second race of the NTI Townsville 500 yesterday, when Shell V-Power Racing’s Anton De Pasquale coming out on top after a fascinating weekend of racing.
Whether Ford has truly turned the corner in terms of competitiveness remains to be seen, with De Pasquale’s success coming on the back of a Saturday non-finish, which saw the youngster carry additional fresh tyres over into the second race.
Regardless, De Pasquale was a front-runner throughout, showing leading pace at all stages of the encounter.
“It’s awesome, it’s been an average year so far,” said De Pasquale.
“The guys worked all night fixing the [electrical] problems from yesterday.
“I had an amazing car today; it was a dream to drive, it’s good to get this done.”
Elsewhere in Townsville, the chase for the championship crown hit overdrive, with the top four drivers in the standings now split by only 70 points, with 300 on offer on any given race weekend.
Now leading the championship is Coca-Cola Racing’s Will Brown, who won the opening race from pole position in his Chevrolet Camaro.
However, the gap back to his teammate Brodie Kostecki stands at only seven, with the former points leader bouncing back from transmission issues on Saturday to claim second on Sunday.
Third and fourth in the standings are the Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaro duo of Broc Feeney and Shane van Gisbergen.
After finishing second in the opening race, Feeney backed up to claim fourth in race two, although that proved somewhat controversial, with the youngster gifted the position at the finish line by van Gisbergen, after the latter engaged in a heated discussion over the radio with the team.
For van Gisbergen, the weekend put a full stop on a whirlwind week in which he claimed victory in the Chicago NASCAR race, which was backed up by results of fourth and fifth in Townsville, where the Sunday result came from the rear of the field after being spun on the opening circuit after qualifying last.
Chaz Mostert meanwhile finished third in the opening race aboard his Mobil 1 Optus Mustang, although he noted his displeasure post-race at the ongoing parity situation, with his second race ending in the pits with steering failure.
“The story of the day, the Mustangs can’t look after their tyres,” said Mostert on Saturday.
“It was good to get P1 in [the Ford] class.”
Elsewhere, Andre Heimgartner continued his recent run of strong form, finishing third on Sunday aboard the Brad Jones Racing prepared R&J Batteries Camaro.
Next up on the Supercars calendar is the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight at Sydney Motorsport Park from July 28-30.
Race 1 – 88 laps
- Will Brown, Coca-Cola Camaro
- Broc Feeney, Red Bull Ampol Camaro
- Chaz Mostert, Mobil 1 Optus Mustang
- Shane van Gisbergen, Red Bull Ampol Camaro
- Cameron Waters, Monster Mustang
- Scott Pye, Hino Camaro
- Andre Heimgartner, R&J Batteries Camaro
- Bryce Fullwood, Middys Camaro
- James Courtney, Snowy River Mustang
- Will Davison, Shell V-Power Mustang
Race 2 – 88 laps
- Anton De Pasquale, Shell V-Power Mustang
- Brodie Kostecki, Coca-Cola Camaro
- Andre Heimgartner
- Broc Feeney
- Shane van Gisbergen
- Will Brown
- Mark Winterbottom, DeWalt Camaro
- Thomas Randle, Castrol Mustang
- Bryce Fullwood
- Jack Le Brocq, Truck Assist Camaro
Championship points:
- Will Brown – 1357
- Brodie Kostecki – 1350
- Broc Feeney – 1331
- Shane van Gisbergen – 1285
- Chaz Mostert – 1114
- Andre Heimgartner – 1107
- Cameron Waters – 1048
- Jack Le Brocq – 961
- Will Davison – 922
- Mark Winterbottom – 888
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Keyword: Ford strikes back in Townsville