Anton De Pasquale is unfazed by those who played down the merit of his drought-breaking victory at the NTI Townsville 500.
The Shell V-Power Racing Team driver delivered just Ford’s second race win of the Gen3 Supercars era, and the first in which a Mustang has been first to the chequered flag, in Race 17 of the season at the Reid Park Street Circuit.
However, many formed the view that the result has an ‘asterisk’ alongside it given how the race played out.
De Pasquale employed a three-stop strategy, his caused aided by a mid-race Safety Car period, having had new tyres saved up after suffering electrical problems on the afternoon prior.
“It doesn’t really bother me about it,” he said of the naysayers.
“I don’t really think or listen to too much of what other people have to say. You kind of know your own situation and what you’re in yourself.
“So, unless someone’s taking a personal dig at me and my family, I don’t really care what they say, you know?”
Speaking straight after that race, Dick Johnson Racing CEO David Noble agreed that there was an element of fortune in the win but argued that the struggling Ford team had “found some pace in the car, so that’s not luck.”
His predecessor as CEO, Ryan Story, made a similar point in this week’s Speedcafe Podcast, observing, “When you look at Anton’s pace in clear air, it was pretty good.”
Story has been revealed as a key figure behind the suite of parity changes which began to roll out on the Mustangs at Townsville, when they raced for the first time with a revised aerodynamic package designed to prevent a substantial loss of rear downforce under pitch.
Car #11’s victory in Race 17 was therefore all the more significant in the context of the Gen3 parity furore, although the bodywork tweaks were not considered a silver bullet at the time.
This weekend, the Mustangs also have a smaller throttle body in their 5.4-litre, Coyote-derived engine, which is intended to improve driveability.
Neither De Pasquale nor his Team Principal, Ben Croke, think that will make a drastic difference, but he is optimistic that DJR can continue its upward trajectory at this weekend’s Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight.
“Hopefully,” he remarked.
“We’ve had an average start to the year and, I mean, a lot of people have; it’s not just us alone.
“But, I think in amongst all the changes to the cars, we’ve also done some really good stuff internally, so they sort of work hand in hand, hopefully.
“Here’s [Sydney Motorsport Park] been a good happy hunting ground for us, but by no means do we actually know what we’re doing here.
“Obviously, cars are so different, and so different to the test at the start of the year, so we’re rolling out something we think works and hopefully it does.”
Practice 1 at SMP starts this afternoon at 12:15 local time/AEST.
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