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Sydney Supercars: De Pasquale wins despite tyre scare

Anton De Pasquale won the final race at Sydney Motorsport Park despite a tyre scare that forced him into an early stop.

Anton de Pasquale, Dick Johnson Racing Ford

Anton de Pasquale, Dick Johnson Racing Ford

Edge Photographics

The polesitter seemed to be cruising early in the first stint, building a 3.5-second gap over fellow front row starter Will Brown across the first five laps.

However a delaminating right rear tyre forced De Pasquale into an early stop, his Lap 11 service coming some five laps sooner than expected.

That initially gave him a healthy lead, close to 10 seconds, thanks to the undercut – but left Brown with tyres that were six laps younger for the run home.

The better rubber helped Brown quickly reel De Pasquale in, the rookie slotting under the leader's rear wing with a handful of laps to go.

But some clever tyre management during the chase meant De Pasquale had some pace in hand when Brown got behind him, enough, as it turned out, to keep the Erebus driver at bay.

"Will was pushing me quite hard," said De Pasquale.

"I had a bit of tyre in hand so I pushed quite hard in the first [stint] and one of the tyres delaminated or something. I had to pit quite early and then do a long stint, which we didn't want to do.

"I knew Will was coming [in the second stint], so I saved a little bit of tyre for the battle. I knew it was going to happen. Once he got to me, I think he was pushing pretty hard so I don't think he had much [tyre] left."

Brown confirmed that he wore his tyres out during the chase.

"Typical young bloke, burned [the tyres] up," he joked. "I don't know if I was burnt out or the car was at the end there.

"I put a bit of pressure on [De Pasquale] out of the last corner and gave him a few taps, but once I was behind him it was too hot. I would have liked to get that win, but it's cool to be on the podium."

Jamie Whincup finished a distant third, 20 seconds back, after a race-long tussle with teammate Shane van Gisbergen.

Whincup led the way in the first stint but had mirrors full of van Gisbergen, a least until the Kiwi went for an early stop on Lap 11.

The undercut helped van Gisbergen get ahead of Whincup, but Whincup had better tyres and was able to get back through on Lap 25.

Will Davison finished fifth ahead of a much-improved Cam Waters, who took Tickford's best result of a tough weekend with sixth.

Chaz Mostert and Jack Le Brocq were next in line followed by Tim Slade and Mark Winterbottom.

Van Gisbergen now leads the series by 338 points over Whincup.

The Supercars season continues with the second of four consecutive events at Sydney Motorsport Park next weekend.

Sydney Supercars - Race 3 results:

Cla # Driver Car Gap
1 11 Australia Anton De Pasquale
Ford Mustang GT
2 9 Australia Will Brown
Holden Commodore ZB 1.262
3 88 Australia Jamie Whincup
Holden Commodore ZB 20.576
4 97 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen
Holden Commodore ZB 28.166
5 17 Australia Will Davison
Ford Mustang GT 33.234
6 6 Australia Cameron Waters
Ford Mustang GT 34.543
7 25 Australia Chaz Mostert
Holden Commodore ZB 37.740
8 5 Australia Jack Le Brocq
Ford Mustang GT 39.462
9 3 Australia Tim Slade
Ford Mustang GT 41.637
10 18 Australia Mark Winterbottom
Holden Commodore ZB 44.137
11 8 Australia Nick Percat
Holden Commodore ZB 46.423
12 44 Australia James Courtney
Ford Mustang GT 46.435
13 7 New Zealand Andre Heimgartner
Ford Mustang GT 51.392
14 26 Australia David Reynolds
Ford Mustang GT 55.242
15 99 Brodie Kostecki
Holden Commodore ZB 55.441
16 96 Australia Macauley Jones
Holden Commodore ZB 56.740
17 34 Australia Jake Kostecki
Holden Commodore ZB 58.591
18 2 Australia Bryce Fullwood
Holden Commodore ZB 1'04.493
19 4 Australia Jack Smith
Holden Commodore ZB 1'10.825
20 20 Australia Scott Pye
Holden Commodore ZB 1'11.160
21 22 Australia Garry Jacobson
Holden Commodore ZB 1'11.933
22 35 Australia Zane Goddard
Holden Commodore ZB 1'18.318
23 14 Australia Todd Hazelwood
Holden Commodore ZB
19 New Zealand Fabian Coulthard
Holden Commodore ZB

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