De Pasquale on provisional pole for Race 20 at SMP

Anton De Pasquale has grabbed provisional pole position for Race 20 of the Repco Supercars Championship at Sydney Motorsport Park in a Dick Johnson Racing qualifying one-two.

Ahead of a Top 10 Shootout later this afternoon at the Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight, it is De Pasquale fastest for the third session in a row and Will Davison next-best in the Shell V-Power Mustangs after 15 minutes of qualifying.

Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen will be third-last out in the one-lap dash, while his Red Bull Ampol Racing team-mate Jamie Whincup is a provisional eighth on the grid.

It was much cooler Western Sydney weather which the field encountered relative to the afternoon prior, with a tailwind into Moffat Corner (Turn 1) rather than an 80km/h headwind.

De Pasquale had set the pace in both Friday practice hit-outs and went even faster again in bowling out a 1:28.7149s on his first flying lap of Qualifying for Race 20 in the #11 Mustang.

Erebus Motorsport’s Will Brown (#9 WD-40 ZB Commodore) sat second at the end of the first runs on a 1:29.2015s, ahead of Nick Percat (#8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore) on a 1:29.2274s.

Van Gisbergen (#97 ZB Commodore) was fourth at that point courtesy of a 1:29.4478s on his second flyer.

Despite reports of the mercury rising somewhat for the second runs, the lap times continued to get quicker.

Davison nabbed top spot with a 1:28.7016s, but only held it for a moment before team-mate De Pasquale grabbed it back with a 1:28.5589s.

That meant 0.1427s separated the DJR entries, and it was about that margin again back to van Gisbergen when he broke the beam at a time of 1:28.8570s.

Said De Pasquale, “It’s never easy, I’ll give you the hot tip.

“[We were] pushing pretty hard. It’s good to see Will back up after a hard day yesterday.

“So, our cars are in the window day-on-day, which is good because the weather has changed and the wind has changed and all that stuff, so it’s good to back it up.

“Now I have got to do a Shootout lap and see if we can do another one, but so far so good.”

De Pasquale also advised that DJR changed only “small stuff” on Car #11, amid the significant weather change.

“I mean, we can never not make a change, you know?” he remarked.

“That’s just sort of the nature of the beast but yeah, very small stuff.

“The car is in a nice window so just fine-tuning it with the weather and the track and stuff like that.

“It’s probably the best we’ve rolled out a car all year out of the truck so just using that, tune it up, tune it up and then have a go in the Shootout and then more importantly the race tonight.”

Brown clocked the fastest first sector on his way to a 1:29.0406s just before the chequered flag, after which he was pipped by Percat’s 1:29.0211s.

Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters put the #6 Monster Energy Mustang into position six with a 1:29.3337s, and Brodie Kostecki made it both Erebus cars in the Shootout by driving the #99 Boost Mobile ZB Commodore to a 1:29.4126s.

Whincup (#88 ZB Commodore) got in with a 1:29.4150s and Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Appliances Online ZB Commodore) the 1:29.4865s he set on his first run.

Tim Slade (#3 Dayco Mustang) will be first on-track for the one-lap dash having clocked a 1:29.4871s, using three sets of tyres in the qualifying session.

David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Oil Mustang) improved late but came up less than a tenth of a second shy and will start 11th, alongside Kelly Grove Racing team-mate Andre Heimgartner (#7 Ned Whisky Mustang).

Behind them on Row 7 will be Todd Hazelwood (#14 Dunlop Super Dealer ZB Commodore) and Fabian Coulthard (#19 Local Legends ZB Commodore).

The Top 10 Shootout starts at 16:40 local time/AEDT, with Race 20 due at 19:10.

Results: Qualifying for Race 20, Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight