The Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Anton De Pasquale has described his podium in the Repco Bathurst 1000 as a “relief”.
Whether that would have been the case had Penrite Racing’s David Reynolds not incurred a drive-through penalty and James Moffat not crashed Cam Waters’ Tickford Racing entry on Lap 70 will never be known.
However, De Pasquale was also provisionally the top qualifying Ford driver and, by roughly a quarter of the way into the 161-lapper, the #11 Dick Johnson Racing entry emerged as the nearest rival to Triple Eight Race Engineering’s two contenders for victory and the #99 Erebus Motorsport Camaro which would finish second.
“It’s good,” he said.
“We worked hard at this one.
“We felt we had a really good race car all week; we spent a lot of time doing race runs and just doing that hard stuff, saving tyres for the race and all those things.
“I felt like we maximised our day, and I think I said that a couple of days ago in Qualifying.
“So that’s what we’ve got, it feels good, it’s a relief, but doesn’t feel like a win, that’s for sure.”
The podium is De Pasquale’s first in the Great Race and D’Alberto’s second, after he finished third as Fabian Coulthard’s co-driver in 2017.
It was also DJR’s first in almost as long, with none of the Stapylton-based squad’s Mustangs having made the top three since Scott McLaughlin/Alexandre Premat took victory in 2019.
Them, McLaughlin/Premat had started among the favourites but, this time around, Ford teams were alarmed pre-event at how they would fare given their concerns about technical parity.
Team Principal Ben Croke remarked on DJR’s performance on Sunday at Mount Panorama, “We’re proud to be the first Ford home. The podium was great for everyone in the team.
“It’s never easy at Bathurst, but the week flowed really well. It was pretty trouble free.
“The crew on the #11 executed really well today and that was the key to putting the car on the podium. Anton and Tony both did an incredible job.
“We’re going to enjoy this for a few days. Then we’ll turn our attention to the Gold Coast.”
While there was delight for Car #11, there was disappointment for the other side of the full-time entries’ garage, and struggles for the wildcard entry at the other end of pit lane.
Will Davison revealed an ongoing braking inconsistency after Saturday practice before he and brother Alex combined to be last classified finishers in 16th.
Will remarked, “All in all, a frustrating day here at the Repco Bathurst 1000.
“We had to overcome many obstacles throughout the day so to still be able to finish another race around Mount Panorama is a good accomplishment.
“The team worked really hard to get us to this point, we had good clean pit stops and I’m proud of all of our efforts.
“We added some more points to the team and driver championship, and now our focus turns to Gold Coast.”
Car #98, piloted by Supercars Championship debutant Kai Allen and returnee Simona De Silvestro, got home a lap down in 20th after the latter was turned around twice during the day.
Allen said, “Good day, ended up finishing the Great Race which is a bonus.
“Grateful to all the team for giving me the opportunity and it was great to have Simona by my side; she did a great job in all of her stints.
“We had a few little issues throughout the race, but finishing P20, I’m pretty happy with that.
“Massive thanks to the whole team at Shell V-Power Racing and congrats to Anton & Tony up there on the podium.”
The podium in particular means DJR has consolidated fourth position in the teams’ championship with two events to go.
De Pasquale jumped from 11th to seventh in the drivers’ championship, although Will Davison went the other way, from ninth to 11th.
The Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 takes place on October 27-29.
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