De Pasquale signs new Erebus deal

Anton De Pasquale will continue to drive for Erebus Motorsport next season after agreeing to a new contract with the Holden squad.

The highly rated young gun has signed a new deal to stay at the Penrite-backed Melbourne squad that promoted him to the Supercars Championship last year after two years in Super2.

Erebus Motorsport has declined to reveal the length of the extension, stating the contract is for ‘2020 and beyond’ in its release confirming De Pasquale’s renewal.

De Pasquale, who was out of contract at the end of the year, is understood to have attracted attention from rival teams following an impressive rise to prominence in Australia’s top tier.

This season, the 23-year-old scored a maiden podium finish at the Phillip Island SuperSprint in April and has been described as a future Supercars star by reigning champion Scott McLaughlin.

De Pasquale had chosen to avoid the silly season talk with manager Paul Morris charged with guiding his immediate future, with the rising star now set to continue at Erebus.

“Erebus has always shown their faith and belief in me; asking me to join them for an evaluation day in 2017, then giving me my start in Supercars the following year,” said De Pasquale.

“They have always backed me and my ambition and I know we share the same goal.

“We have worked hard to put ourselves in a pretty strong position and I’m looking forward to working together to build on that and enjoy more success in the years to come.”

Erebus CEO Barry Ryan had expected De Pasquale’s re-singing to be a formality, alongside the renewal of the squad’s other out of contract driver David Reynolds.

Reynolds has stated that he plans to remain with the squad but a deal is yet to be confirmed.

Following confirmation of De Pasquale’s new deal, Ryan labelled the driver as ‘a great contributor’ to the team’s recent successes.

“Anton has been a great contributor to the success of our team over the past two seasons and he is still improving his skills and going faster every time he hits the track,” said Ryan.

“It is fantastic to have Anton continue with Erebus Motorsport into 2020 and we look forward to targeting race wins and Championship success well into his future.”

Team owner Betty Klimenko added: “We have had a phenomenal start together and as we look to the long term, it’s brilliant to extend our journey with Anton.

“The team had confidence that he was going to do well, but he also showed confidence in us, that we were a team that could deliver him results.

“It’s exciting to think what we’ll be able to achieve as we grow together.”

De Pasquale sits 11th in the standings heading into this weekend’s Century Batteries Ipswich SuperSprint.