De Pasquale excluded from Race 21 over tyre mix-up

Anton De Pasquale has been disqualified from Race 21 of the Repco Supercars Championship after a tyre from Dick Johnson Racing team-mate Will Davison’s allocation was fitted to his car.

De Pasquale took the chequered flag in fifth earlier today at Sydney Motorsport Park but will receive no points after a tyre belonging to Car #17 ended up on the #11 Shell V-Power Racing Team Mustang.

Not only does that result now now count, but DJR has been fined $20,000, of which half is suspended until year-end.

“Following the Race, the DRD received a report from Supercars Technical that during Race 21 the Authorised Representative of Racing Team (Aust) Pty Ltd [DJR] had reported to the HoM that during Race 21 the Team had fitted a Control Tyre allocated to Car #17, Will Davison, on Car #11 in breach of Rule D17.1.6 which prohibits the transfer of a Control Tyre between Cars except as permitted by the Rules,” read the stewards report.

“The Control Tyre transfer between Car #17 and Car #11 was not permitted.

“The Team having admitted to the Breach, the Stewards imposed a Penalty of Disqualification of Car #11 from Race 21 and a Fine on Racing Team (Aust) Pty Ltd in the sum of $20,000 of which $10,000 is suspended until 31 December 2021 subject to the Team not committing any further breach of Rule D17 before that date.”

DJR team principal Ben Croke admitted that the error occurred during the pit stop.

“We had a little mishap in the pit stop there,” he said.

“The wrong tyre was fitted to Anton’s car. It’s a mistake that we made, we’ve put our hand up, we accept the consequences.

“It’s been a really positive return to racing for us, we have had really good cars here this weekend so for us now, the focus is just to go out in this next one [Race 22] and do the best job we can.

“Anton is on pole, so we will move on and keep pressing on.”

It was already a difficult race for Davison, who had to contend with an electrical issue which prompted a power cycle of Car #17 in the pits.

Croke said that was a contributing factor to the mix-up.

“Yeah, there was a lot going on for the key people in that time with dashes and how we reset and stuff like that,” he confirmed.

“We have got very experienced guys, our pit stop guys are the best in pit lane, we’ve proven that time and time again.

“It’s an error that was made so we move on and do the best we can. We’ve been really good this weekend and we’ll keep that up.”

Davison took four fresh tyres in that stop, and two in Race 20 on the evening prior, but on whether or not he would thus be disadvantaged for Race 22, Croke said, “No, he’s fine.”

De Pasquale is on pole and Davison sixth on the grid for Race 22, which begins at 16:25 local time/AEDT.

Results: Race 21, Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight Updated

Fastest lap (bonus): Brodie Kostecki, 1:31.3848s, Lap 17