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Young gun Anton De Pasquale will race with the backing of the Clipsal 500 Adelaide at this weekend’s Dunlop Series finale in Sydney.
De Pasquale is the latest to carry the Clipsal 500 colours following the race’s three-event sponsorship with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport’s Nick Percat in the main series.
Running a previous generation Ford Falcon for Paul Morris Motorsport, De Pasquale has been the quiet achiever of the 2016 Dunlop Series.
The 21-year-old made the transition from open-wheelers to touring cars this year following a stint in European Formula Renault.
De Pasquale is 11th in points heading to Sydney with a best race finish of third achieved last time out at Bathurst.
The former Australian Formula Ford champion says he’s excited to represent the Clipsal 500, having raced with support from Morris’ own Sirromet wines and Norwell Motorplex businesses throughout the season to date.
“When Nick (Percat) had the livery there was quite a lot of hype around it so it’s really cool to bring it to the Dunlop Series,” De Pasquale told Speedcafe.com.
“It’s great to be representing the event and also having increased support from Hungry Jack’s this weekend.
“The last time I raced here was in Formula Ford (2013), so I have some experience with the circuit but it’ll be quite different in these cars.
“We’ll do our best to learn as we go and chase the best result we can to finish the season on a high.”
De Pasquale says he’s pleased with his learning year in the Dunlop Series and fully expects to return for a crack at the title in 2017.
“I think I’ve had quite a good year having come from a completely different style of motorsport,” he said.
“It’s been good to have Paul Morris and his team around me to help me learn.
“There is a big spread of equipment in this series now more than ever with the Car of the Future cars.
“But every round we’ve been getting better and we showed really good pace in qualifying at Sandown and then had a good result at Bathurst.
“We’ve just got to try and carry that momentum through this weekend and into next year.
“We’ll be in the category again in some form (in 2017), but for now I’m just concentrating on getting a good result here.”
