Penrite Racing
26 SEP 2020
Anton scores fifth while David charges through
Penrite Racing's Anton De Pasquale has powered through to the top five in Race 28 at Tailem Bend today, while teammate David Reynolds made a massive eight places to finish P16.
Race 28
Starting from sixth on the grid, Anton picked up one spot on the start and swiftly moved into fifth. David made the most headway out of anyone after a poor qualifying session; improving five places from the rear of field by the end of the opening lap.
The #9 Holden made an additional spot before firing into pit lane as soon as the lane opened on lap five. Anton meanwhile waited until lap ten to take his fresh rear tyres, with the crew punching out the second quickest stop of the race.
When the field levelled out Anton's positions was unchanged in fifth, while David proved he still had the race pace he showed last weekend, driving through to 16th.
With a reduced race distance due to an aborted start and extra formation lap, the Penrite duo passed the checkered flag after 31 laps in fifth and 16th.
The day's results have elevated Penrite Racing to 4th in the Team's Championship ahead of another two qualifying sessions and two races tomorrow.
Anton De Pasquale was pleased with his result: "We rolled out in qualifying and track had cooled off quite a lot, so we seemed to go a little bit slower than we did in practice and had to do a few different things. It was good to make a couple spots through the shootout. The lap wasn't amazing, but it was decent and put us in a good position in sixth on the road.
"We made a heap of changes trying to put the car into good race trim and had a pretty decent start. I had a good battle the first few corners and from there we settled into fifth. I think that's where our pace was today, front few were just a couple tenths up the road and there were no opportunities to gain a heap of positions. Unlike last weekend, I think the temperature and loss of high-speed sectors the tyres are hanging on.
"The pace between the whole field is really close, and we are close to the front guys but just need to make a couple good calls overnight."
Meanwhile David Reynolds said: "Qualifying was pretty ordinary and I wasn't able to make the most of my lap and didn't make it out of the first part of Qualifying.
"In the race though I got the best start I ever have in my career, though after that we sort of got into a procession. We did a good job today to jump up eight positions in the race, but we need to make our car a bit faster, particularly in qualifying. I think if I can qualify inside the top ten, we will be able to get a good result; I certainly had the pace of a top ten car today but starting at the back you never really get to show that. I am looking forward to have a big crack tomorrow for our last couple races before the big finale in Bathurst."
Back-to-back qualifying kicks off tomorrow morning at 9:10am local time.
