De Pasquale racks up two more poles at SMP

Dick Johnson Racing’s Anton De Pasquale has taken another two pole positions by chunky margins at Supercars’ Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight.

The #11 Shell V-Power Racing Team Mustang will start from first position in both Races 21 and 22 this afternoon at Sydney Motorsport Park after De Pasquale set a 1:28.2988s in the first of the morning’s 10-minute qualifying sessions and a 1:28.3084s in the second.

Will Davison made it a DJR lockout at the head of the grid for Race 21 while Erebus Motorsport’s Will Brown earned a second front row start of the weekend in Qualifying for Race 22.

The latter was as close as anyone could get to De Pasquale in the latest 20 minutes of qualifying, but even then, he was almost four tenths of a second slower than the form man at Eastern Creek.

“I’m pushing quite hard,” said De Pasquale, who won Race 20 on the night prior and now has seven poles in the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship.

“As a driver, you know when you have got a car that responds to what you do, you push harder, push harder, push harder, and it keeps delivering what you want out of it.

“I would just fire into [Turn] 1, fresh day, not knowing what it’s going to do and the car has got my back; it’s good.”

Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen qualified sixth and then fourth in the #97 Red Bull Ampol Racing entry.

Qualifying for Race 21

Jack Le Brocq (#5 Truck Assist Mustang) was fastest of the six who initially set a time on a 1:29.7911s, with the rest of the field opting for installation runs to get things underway in Qualifying for Race 21.

Brodie Kostecki, who was among those in the Top 10 Shootout on the afternoon prior, took over top spot on his first and only run proper when he drove Erebus’s #99 Boost Mobile ZB Commodore to a 1:29.0103s.

De Pasquale then rolled out the 1:28.2988s in the #11 Mustang and while Davison soon earned the berth alongside him on the front row, #17 was still 0.6565s slower on a 1:28.9553s.

It means a second row of Brodie Kostecki alongside Jamie Whincup (#88 Red Bull Ampol ZB Commodore), while Nick Percat (#8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore) shares the third row with van Gisbergen (#97 ZB Commodore), who clocked a 1:29.1759s.

Rounding out the top 10 were Andre Heimgartner (#7 Ned mustang), Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Appliances Online ZB Commodore), Brown (#9 WD-40 ZB Commodore), and Tim Slade (#3 Dayco Mustang).

Brad Jones Racing’s Todd Hazelwood (#14 Dunlop Super Dealer ZB Commodore) was 11th and is set to start alongside the first of the Tickford Racing drivers on the grid, namely Le Brocq.

Of the other Tickford entries, Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) qualified 14th and James Courtney (#44 Boost Mobile Mustang) 20th.

Qualifying for Race 22

With the cloud cover shifting over Sydney Motorsport Park, both DJR and both Erebus cars were sent for early hot laps in Qualifying for Race 22.

Brown instantly beat all but De Pasquale’s best from the preceding session when he clocked a 1:28.7007s before De Pasquale himself set the 1:28.3084s.

Once the opening salvos were done, it was DJR, Erebus, Erebus, and DJR at the head of the timing screen with their mornings complete, but the Triple Eight Race Engineering duo were yet to venture onto the race track.

Whincup subsequently drove Car #88 to a 1:28.7448s to take up third spot, and van Gisbergen joined him on Row 2 on a 1:28.8464s.

Their efforts shuffled Brodie Kostecki and Davison back to fifth and sixth respectively, although those two would drop no further.

Team 18’s Mark Winterbottom (#18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore) took seventh and Hazelwood eighth, with Percat claiming ninth after the chequered flag and thus pushing future Walkinshaw Andretti United team-mate Mostert to the outside of Row 5.

Slade was 11th-fastest and Waters 12th, ahead of Le Brocq, Heimgartner, and David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Oil Mustang) in 15th.

Race 21 starts at 12:45 local time/AEDT.

Results: Qualifying for Race 21, Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight

Results: Qualifying for Race 22, Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight