De Pasquale says ‘hard work” is behind drought breaker
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 9 July 2023
Anton De Pasquale said it has taken ‘lots of hard work’ to bounce back from a tough start to 2023 and end Ford’s agonising wait for a maiden on-track win in the Gen3 era.
Through a mix of smart strategy and capitalising on opportunities from an undercut, safety car and extra set of fresh tyres, De Pasquale dominated the Sunday leg of the Townsville 500.
After pitting four laps earlier than the rest of the field, car #11 found itself up the front on lap 32 and once it returned to P1 on Lap 40, no one else came close.
De Pasquale led the final 48 laps and eventually won by five seconds over Brodie Kostecki.
The sight of seeing the Dick Johnson Racing Mustang take the chequered flag would have been sweet relief for Ford fans.
The only time a Mustang has appeared in victory lane was the opener at Newcastle where Cameron Waters finished third, but was promoted to first after both Triple Eight Camaros were disqualified.
Anton De Pasquale on his way to victory at Townsville. Image: Mark Horsburgh
But there were no doubts surrounding De Pasquale’s success being the dominant figure all day.
Not only would it be a welcome sight for followers of the “Blue Oval” no one would be more relieved than De Pasquale himself.
The 27-year-old has had a tough season sitting a lowly 17th in the championship with just four top 10 results from the first five rounds.
It was De Pasquale’s first win since Hidden Valley last year in 36 races and he said it would not have been possible without the help of his team.
Saturday was another forgetful day being the only non finisher of race 16, lasting 49 of the 88 laps due to electrical issues.
But within 24 hours De Pasquale’s emotions have gone from agony to ecstasy as he stood on the top step for the ninth time in his career.
“It has taken a lot of hard work and it feels like my first one all over again,” he said.
“Massive credit to the whole team. We had dramas all day yesterday and did not know what it was so the guys pretty much replaced everything electrical in the car.
Anton De Pasquale’s last win was over a year ago at the Darwin Triple Crown.
“We threw a dart at the board for setup and here we are, it is awesome.
“The team is working as good as ever together, results have not shown it but hopefully this form carries on.”
The win was also a first for new CEO David Noble, who now knows what Supercars success tastes like compared to getting four premiership points in an AFL game.
Noble said the impact the win will have on the battling team, which has been fighting at the front since 2017 cannot be underestimated.
“It just nourishes the whole team and is just a big energiser for everyone,” he said.
It is a real boost for us to get that feeling to continue pushing to get back here on a more regular basis.
“Today is about recognising what we have done over the last few weeks has got us to a point, but there is a lot more work to do.
“Not just with the parity side of things, but internally we have had our own stuff to get right.
“We will continue to work our backsides off to get here again.”
It will be interesting to see if Dick Johnson Racing can continue its speed at the Sydney SuperNight on July 28-30.
Auto Action, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport.
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Shane van Gisbergen went to Chicago to have some fun and a job interview. He had fun, won and aced the job interview. Andrew Clarke was there for the historic win, and Bruce Williams and Paul Gover dig into the significance of it all with Clarke.
Then we look Supercars and the parity war, what changes are coming? Then F1, which needs more changes than any Motorsport on the planet.
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