Dalton was dumped from 18th on the grid to the very back of the 25-car field in the hustle and bustle of the opening laps.

The Super2 Series regular went on to finish 21st, adding to the 23rd and 21st place results achieved from last on the grid in the two Saturday races.

Although it was not his first main game outing following a wildcard in Sydney last year, the mid-field mayhem was a wake-up call for the Tasmanian.

“It’s always awesome to be in the main game,” he said when reflecting on his weekend via the Cool Down Lap.

“It’s hard battling at the back. In that race I was straight away in the deep end… I just got eaten alive on that first lap.

“I don’t think any of those boys enjoyed [seeing] a wildcard in front of them. I got fed off pretty quick.

“Our pace was pretty strong, unfortunately we just had that slow stop with the fuel which ruined us for the last stint.

“It would have been awesome, we were on good tyres and on for a good result, but it is what it is. I’ll hand the keys over to Rylan now.”

Rylan Gray kept a close eye on Dalton’s progress in Perth ahead of his Supercars Championship debut in the car at Hidden Valley in under a fortnight.

The wildcard program will then have the duo team up for the Bend 500 and Bathurst 1000 Endurance Cup events.

Tickford’s wildcard and Super2 campaigns this year are being guided by Mark Winterbottom, who was on double duties with the team and the Supercars TV broadcast in Perth.

Winterbottom said Dalton’s experience in Perth will be valuable for when the Super2 Series continues at Townsville in July.

“He’s probably a day or two behind, that’s the problem because in this series you’re trying to get up to speed,” said Winterbottom of Dalton’s performance.

“He was in the mix then, he was 18th in qualifying, and then he just said, ‘if I knew how hard they race at the start, I would have pushed a lot harder’.

“He was probably a bit too timid.

“Tomorrow if he had have qualified 15th or something he wouldn’t have done that same courteous start to the race. So he’s probably a day behind, but this is the experience.

“Now he takes this to Townsville and hopefully kick starts his Super2 championship. He’s had a really good weekend, he got better every day and that’s all you can ask for.”

Dalton is currently in his third Super2 campaign and declared the weekend’s event as an “audition” for a full-time move into the main game next year.