DJR delighted by double podium

Dick Johnson Racing (DJR) is back in form after both Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale both emerged from a wet and wild Taupo opener on the podium.

A fast start and composed drive pushed Davison from 10th to second while a similarly strong performance pushed De Pasquale to an important third.

Taupo was the first time both DJR Mustangs were on the rostrum in the Gen3 era and first since De Pasquale won at Darwin in 2022.

It is a big boost following a challenging start to the season for DJR, which sat a lowly 10th in the constructors championship, but now rose all the way to fifth.

Davison’s P5 on the Friday of the Melbourne SuperSprint was the team’s only top five across the first two rounds, which joins last year as the fewest recorded at this stage of the season since the pre Scott McLaughlin days of 2016.

The DJR Fords have been fast all weekend with Davison showing top three pace in practice and both drivers in the top five in the provisional qualifying before being caught out by heavy rain in the Shootout.

After a strong start and restart amid the early craziness, Davison raced his way past Will Brown and overcame a challenge from Ryan Wood to sit a safe third.

This became second when Chaz Mostert’s wheel fell off and the experienced driver calmly drove the #17 to its first podium in 24 races since Darwin last year.

But for Davison, it was anything but calm behind the wheel, revealing the conditions were some of the worst he has encountered since his debut all the way back in 2004.

“Wow, what a day, a full-on day,” he said.

“I suppose we were finally pretty happy with our drive pace yesterday but we all knew the rain was going to affect us today. 

“Our quali session before the shootout was pretty tight but the Shootout didn’t go to plan with the way the weather sort of changed throughout but it was a good race.

“It was an important race and an important result for us now.  Good timing.

“Crazy day, what can I say, the race was just nuts! 

“I was having a bit of a crack early on and made some good moves and then it was just a real seesaw in probably in some of the toughest conditions I’ve ever raced in. 

“But it’s an amazing result for the team and I’m looking forward to what tomorrow will bring!”

For De Pasquale, it was a timely result as he entered Taupo in a lowly 21st in the championship.

“Our first Double Podium in Gen3 which is awesome, especially in such an intense race,” he said. 

“You never know when you walk into the track and it’s belting down with rain what’s going to come out the other side, there’s so many unknowns, so to walk away with a couple of trophies makes us pretty happy! 

“It was sort of a faultless race for us, we chipped away and chipped away and got there. We worked hard to get good points.

“We had a couple of DNF’s at AGP so to get some points in a 150 race is awesome! 

“We’ll try and do that again tomorrow and keep chipping away.”

Taupo Super400 schedule (all times AEST)

Friday, April 19

Practice: 1: C. Mostert 1:26.4937 2: M. Payne +0.0318 3: W. Davison +0.0508

Saturday, April 20

Qualifying Race 7: 1: M. Payne 1:27.9684 2: A. De Pasquale +0.0940 3: C. Mostert +0.1669

Top 10 Shootout: 1: C. Waters 1:34.7415 2: W. Brown +0.5011 3: A. Heimgartner +0.5374

Race 7 (60 laps): 1: A. Heimgartner 2: W. Davison +1.1012 3: A. De Pasquale +2.5641

Sunday, April 21

Qualifying Race 8: 08.45

Top 10 Shootout: 10.25

Race 7 (60 laps): 13.05

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