The Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Anton De Pasquale has given Ford its first on-track Supercars Championship race win since September 2022, prevailing in Race 17 at the NTI Townsville 500.
De Pasquale achieved the victory through a combination of speed, strategy, and a fortunately-timed Safety Car which locked in the benefit of the three-stop approach for the #11 Dick Johnson Racing Mustang.
Erebus Motorsport’s Brodie Kostecki (#99 Coca-Cola Camaro) took the chequered flag 5.0692s back in second place after 88 laps around the Reid Park Street Circuit, closing the gap to championship-leading team-mate Will Brown to seven points.
Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner rounded out the Race 17 podium in the #8 R&J Batteries Camaro, from Red Bull Ampol Racing duo Broc Feeney (#88 Camaro) and Shane van Gisbergen (#97 Camaro) after their late position swap.
Brown (#9 Coca-Cola Camaro) got home sixth, from Mark Winterbottom (#18 DeWalt Camaro), Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang), Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy’s Camaro), and Jack Le Brocq (#34 Truck Assist Camaro).
Back when the lights on the start gantry went out, Le Brocq got the better launch from the outside of the front row but pole-sitter Cameron Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) had the preferred line for Turn 2 and emerged with the lead.
At the very back of the field, van Gisbergen was six seconds behind the train at the end of the standing lap after he was turned around by former team-mate Declan Fraser (#777 Tradie Mustang) at Turn 7, an incident which resulted in no further action from stewards.
Chaz Mostert was running in 10th before slowing on Lap 3 and ultimately driving into the garage with a steering rack issue in the #25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang, then bluntly observed on television, “Another control part that’s failed.”
De Pasquale was making early gains, passing Kostecki for fourth on Lap 3 then outbraking Randle for third at Turn 2 on Lap 7.
Between those moves, Le Brocq had lunged Waters for the lead on at Turn 11 but could not make the pass stick.
Heimgartner had more success getting by Randle for fourth on Lap 11 at Turn 2, then Kostecki also overtook the #55 Tickford Racing entry on Lap 12 at Turn 11.
Le Brocq found himself under pressure from De Pasquale until the latter pitted from third on Lap 14 and took on 35 litres of fuel, indicating a three-stopper.
Feeney qualified 13th and was 15th when he pitted on Lap 18, as team-mate van Gisbergen continued to circulate in 20th in a #97 Camaro believed to be carrying damage from the Fraser contact.
Waters pitted from a 1.1s lead on Lap 22 for fuel but rears only and resumed behind De Pasquale, before Heimgartner overtook Le Brocq on the road at Turn 2 on and then Kostecki also got by, nine corners later.
Le Brocq pitted a moment later on that, the 24th lap of the contest, and was nearly caught up in a bizarre collision.
PremiAir Racing was pushing the #23 Nulon Camaro of Tim Slade back out of their garage next door as Le Brocq looked to pull into the Matt Stone Racing pit bay, an incident which will be investigated post-race.
Kostecki and Randle were into the pits on Lap 28, then Heimgartner from the official lead and Brown from second place on Lap 29.
Once van Gisbergen pitted on Lap 33, the first cycle was done and De Pasquale led by 11 seconds to Waters, then Feeney, a somewhat early-stopping James Courtney (#5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang), Le Brocq, Scott Pye (#20 Hino Camaro), Heimgartner, and Kostecki, with Brown 11th and van Gisbergen 22nd.
Le Brocq and Pye both overtook Courtney before he clouted a stray diffuser at the exit of Turn 6, and it was then that a Safety Car was called on Lap 36 for the debris.
Most pitted although Brown, among others, stayed out given the pre-race championship leader would have had to stack behind Kostecki.
He assumed the lead, from Fullwood, Davison, and De Pasquale, the latter of whom was the big winner from the Safety Car given the three-stopper.
Cameron Hill (#35 Truck Assist Camaro, one stop only) was fourth, from Waters, Le Brocq, Pye, van Gisbergen (one stop only), Feeney, and Heimgartner in 11th, with Kostecki 14th.
A handful had taken on the compulsory minimum total 100 litres of fuel although that was somewhat academic given the race restarted on Lap 39 of 88 on a high-degradation circuit.
De Pasquale needed less than two laps to get back to the official race lead while Le Brocq passed Waters for sixth on Lap 41 at Turn 11.
Van Gisbergen did likewise on Lap 42 but also left room for Feeney, and that continued for several laps as they picked off those ahead.
Fullwood passed Brown for second on Lap 43 at Turn 11, at which point he was 1.4s behind De Pasquale, but the other DJR entry of Davison was soon back in the pits with a brake problem.
Van Gisbergen overtook Le Brocq for fourth on Lap 52 at Turn 11, he had dropped Feeney by then, while Kostecki was next in seventh position and Heimgartner eighth.
Waters, whose lock lights were stuck on due to a wheel speed sensor failure, had slipped to 15th when he stopped on Lap 55 for fuel and another four tyres.
Fullwood and Brown were about eight and nine seconds behind De Pasquale, respectively, when they pitted on Lap 58, before Feeney was into the lane on Lap 59 and Triple Eight Race Engineering fitted at least new rears to the #88 Camaro.
Van Gisbergen took service on Lap 62, Heimgartner on Lap 63, and Kostecki on Lap 64, before De Pasquale, Le Brocq, and Randle were all in on Lap 65 to complete the final pit stops.
De Pasquale resumed with an 11-second lead over the unfolding battle for second place between Feeney and Heimgartner, then Kostecki in fourth from van Gisbergen, Fullwood, Winterbottom, Le Brocq, Pye, Brown, and Waters in 11th.
Heimgartner outbraked Feeney at Turn 11 on Lap 66 but left the door open for the Triple Eight driver to reclaim the spot at Turn 13.
Two laps later, the BJR pilot went again at Turn 11 and this time he covered the attempted fightback from Feeney at the next braking zone, by which time De Pasquale was 11.7s up the road.
Kostecki lunged Feeney at Turn 13 on Lap 69, bumping the #88 Camaro wide before he made the pass at the other end of Boundary Street.
Brown got by Fullwood for sixth on Lap 75 at Turn 11, then his team-mate Kostecki passed Heimgartner for second place on Lap 77 at Turn 7, with De Pasquale still cruising at 8.9s to the good.
Van Gisbergen went under team-mate Feeney for fourth on Lap 82 at Turn 11, which triggered a discussion on the radio as to whether or not he would have to give the position back if he was unable to run down Heimgartner.
Up the front, Kostecki continued to eat into De Pasquale’s lead but the DJR driver had plenty of margin in hand and there was never a serious threat that the #99 Erebus entry would catch him.
Meanwhile, despite continued lobbying from van Gisbergen, he would slow down on the run to the chequered flag and let Feeney reclaim fourth position in the end.
Waters finished 15th and Davison was classified a lap down in 21st.
The next event is the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight, on July 28-30.
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