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Thomas Randle says a pass on Anton De Pasquale in Race 14 at the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown was inspired by Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo.
The Castrol Racing driver leant on his own single-seater experience to pull off a deft pass on his Shell V-Power Racing Team rival late in the piece at Turn 1 on Lap 34.
Ironically, the move came about because of a mistake made by Randle at the final corner leading onto the front straight.
That gave De Pasquale a run, the pair going side-by-side down the front straight to begin the next lap.
As they neared the braking zone, Randle got off the accelerator early and neatly slotted in behind De Pasquale, swinging from the right-hand side of the #11 then to the left.
With what little gap De Pasquale left open, Randle squeezed the #55 to the inside and pulled off the move.
“I was putting a lot of pressure on Will [Brown] once I caught him and he started making a few mistakes but then I made my own mistake into the last corner,” Randle explained, speaking with Speedcafe.com.
“Actually I was lucky not to go off the track and that allowed Anton up the inside. I got a little bit of a side draft up the main straight but I knew that if I stayed there he’d get the job done, because once you are on the outside the move is kind of over.
“So I thought back to open-wheeler days and a few moves I’ve seen actually Danny Ric do; I just rolled off the throttle, got in behind him, got the slipstream and just sent it to the inside because I knew he would be looking in the right-hand mirror making sure he was clear, not on his left.
“I knew there would also be some grip there because SVG managed to pull the same move on him the day before.
“So pretty happy to get that move done, especially on a DJR car. He probably should have been further up the grid, I think he had some troubles of his own in the race but that’s not my issue.”
Watch the pass below
Randle!! 💪 #RepcoSC pic.twitter.com/oU1tWdBvd4
— Supercars (@supercars) June 20, 2021
Randle recorded finishes of ninth, 25th, and 11th across the three-race weekend.
The bold pass came in the last race of the weekend and just two days after it was officially confirmed Randle would be making the step up to full-time driving in 2022.
“At the end of the day, I just want to show everyone that I’m hopefully here to stay and I can pull passes like that,” said Randle.
“I always want to do clean manoeuvres – the pros are always pulling clean manoeuvres, no locked brakes or anything like that.
“I didn’t expect the announcement to come this week,” he added.
“I mean I knew it was a done deal, but I didn’t expect that they’d announce it this weekend but I’m certainly glad that it’s announced and I think it was probably well timed to have the announcement and then have a race like that.
“Really looking forward to the next wildcard in Perth and can’t wait for next year. It’s just good that I’ve got this time to prepare.”
Randle’s next wildcard outing will be at the Bunnings Trade Perth SuperNight at Wanneroo Raceway on September 11-12.
He’ll then contest the Repco Bathurst 1000 across October 7-10 as a co-driver.
