De Pasquale wins Super2 Race 4 after Le Brocq tyre blowout

Anton de Pasquale has taken his first race and round wins in the final race of Round 3 of the Dunlop Super2 Series at Phillip Island after Jack Le Brocq lost a tyre while leading.

Le Brocq looked set to take over the series lead with his third race win of the weekend before the right-rear tyre on car #28 gave way at the end of Gardner Straight on Lap 10.

De Pasquale inherited the lead and survived a restart, the Safety Car having been called for the tyre debris, to take victory ahead of Shae Davies and Paul Dumbrell.

Le Brocq had won the start and gradually pulled away to a 2s lead.

The GoGetta Altima had led all but the final lap of Race 1 until the tyre gave way, but his MW Motorsport crew scrambled to get Le Brocq back on track and finish 21st.

“We had a green tyre on for that race and we’d had zero signs from any other tyre conditions so it came out of the blue for us,” said team owner Matthew White.

There was even further hardship post-race when Le Brocq was slapped with a 50-point penalty (subsequently reduced to 35 points) for leaving pit lane while the red light was on due to the Safety Car leading the field onto the main straight.

For de Pasquale, who returned home from a successful stint in Europe due to budget constraints last year, there was joy.

“It was a hard last race, I obviously got a bit lucky with Jack, but we were in it all weekend,” said the Paul Morris Motorsport protégé.

“We got better as the weekend went on so I’m rapt for myself and the boys. We worked hard for it, so it’s a good day.”

Davies had not the pace to challenge the #67 Falcon and finished second, while Dumbrell held out Todd Hazelwood to finish third.

Garry Jacobson was in the thick of the early action with Will Brown and Kurt Kostecki, those three ultimately finishing fifth through seventh respectively.

The trio even rubbed panels as they went three-wide through the Turn 4 Hairpin on Lap 2.

Richard Muscat, Macauley Jones, and Josh Kean rounded out the top 10, while Jack Perkins finally got past steering rack issues to take 13th.

The second-generation racer was also cleared of wrongdoing after turning Jake Kostecki around at Southern Loop on Lap 3.

Jake Kostecki had an even wilder moment on the final lap when he was tipped into a spin at Doohan Corner by Jack Smith.

Dumbrell has extended his series lead ahead of Round 4 at the Townsville 400 from July 7-9.

Results: Race 4, Round 3, Phillip Island

Round results

Series points (Updated)