De Pasquale tops Darwin Supercars Practice 2, SVG dramas continue

Anton De Pasquale has headed an all-Ford top three in Practice 2 at the Supercars Betr Darwin Triple Crown while Shane van Gisbergen’s gremlins continued.

De Pasquale clocked a 1:06.2857s in the #11 Shell V-Power Mustang within the first 10 minutes of the half-hour session at Hidden Valley and that time would not be beaten, although Tickford Racing’s James Courtney (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang) came up just 0.0346s shy.

Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) was third-quickest in another Tickford entry, with championship leader Brodie Kostecki (#99 Coca-Cola Camaro) best of the Chevrolet contingent in fourth, 0.1510s off the pace.

Van Gisbergen, however, stepped out of his #97 Red Bull Camaro before the session was over, having been plagued by a hanging throttle and a steering problem.

He was classified 25th-fastest, one position ahead of Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang).

Kostecki had been fastest after the initial flyers on a 1:06.6112s before Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy’s Camaro) moved the marker to a 1:06.5093s next time around.

With Porsche Carrera Cup have immediately preceded the session, most, if not all, of the Repco Supercars Championship field had rolled out on used tyres, and the switch to new rubber started to come with the second runs.

Macauley Jones (#96 Pizza Hut Camaro) on a 1:06.5756s and then Will Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) on a 1:06.5101s moved to second before Waters took over top spot on a 1:06.4713s.

De Pasquale, who had been off at Turn 7 during his first run, then usurped Waters with a 1:06.2857s and Courtney took over second spot on a 1:06.3203s.

Meanwhile, van Gisbergen was struggling not only with a hanging throttle in the #97 Triple Eight Race Engineering entry but also left-hand down steering, the latter of which prompted a set-up tweak with the track rods.

He was dispatched again with 11 minutes remaining but immediately complained that something was still “broken” given Car #97 pulled left under brakes, and was straight back into the garage.

Those issues came after van Gisbergen’s Practice 1 was heavily compromised by an issue with a test Safety Car configuration which Supercars was running, which restricted his car to 120km/h for much of the session.

Ahead of the final runs in Practice 2, it was still De Pasquale and Courtney on top, with the latter and Waters having been split by another of their Tickford team-mates in Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang) on a 1:06.4406s.

Van Gisbergen stayed in the garage as the rest went for their final runs, at which point Waters edged back up to third on a 1:06.4268s and then Kostecki climbed to fourth on a 1:06.4367s.

Randle thus ended up fifth, from Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries Camaro), David Reynolds (#26 Penrite Mustang), Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy’s Camaro), Davison, and Jones, the latter of whom rounded out at the top 10 at 0.2344s off the pace.

Practice 1 fast man Broc Feeney (#88 Red Bull Ampol Camaro) was 12th and wildcard team-mate Zane Goddard (#888 Supercheap Auto Camaro) 17th, while Erebus Motorsport’s Will Brown (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro ended up 19th..

Next up is Qualifying for Race 13, a three-part knockout session, tomorrow from 11:30 local time/12:00 AEST.

Results: Practice 2