DEWALT Racing Team 18 driver Anton De Pasquale has completed an extensive motorsport and driver development trip to the United States with General Motors ahead of this weekend’s Ipswich Super440.
De Pasquale departed Australia on the Tuesday following the Perth Super440 to take part in a GM academy conducted by Wise Optimization in North Carolina.
Led by former NASCAR driver and renowned performance coach Josh Wise, the program assessed several areas of De Pasquale’s performance behind the wheel, combining physical fitness testing and training with simulator work and a range of exercises focused on driver development.
Wise Optimization works with Chevrolet’s leading drivers to improve performance through a combination of sports science, psychology, fitness and technical training.
The visit provided De Pasquale with an opportunity to experience the program first-hand and gain new insights that can be applied to his preparations with Team 18 in the Repco Supercars Championship.
De Pasquale also toured General Motors’ Charlotte Technical Center in Concord, North Carolina. The state-of-the-art facility supports Chevrolet and Cadillac racing programs around the world, including Formula 1, developing performance, simulation and strategy tools for GM’s motorsport teams.
De Pasquale also got to tour various NASCAR team shops, facilitated by connections in the team, before a visit to Richmond Raceway for Saturday night’s NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400.
De Pasquale caught up with former Supercars rival and current Trackhouse Racing driver Shane van Gisbergen before the race, before taking in the 400-lap event from the Trackhouse crew box.
De Pasquale will return to Australia on Tuesday night before travelling to Queensland on Wednesday for the Ipswich Super440. He enters the weekend sixth in the standings after scoring four podium finishes across the past three events.
Three races will be held at Queensland Raceway from August 21–23 as the Repco Supercars Championship contests the final round of the Sprint Cup.
QUOTES
Anton De Pasquale, Driver – DEWALT Racing #18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
“It has been a really cool trip and a great opportunity to experience the Wise Optimization program and then the NASCAR race in Richmond.
“Josh and Scott have been awesome. We’ve worked through fitness training, simulator sessions and several different driving exercises, all focused on helping me become a better driver and learning how they approach driver development over here.
“The GM Technical Centre is an amazing facility. The scale of the facility and the technology available to support GM’s racing programs is insane, and it was great to meet some of the people working behind the scenes.
“I’m incredibly grateful to everyone at GM and Chevrolet Racing for making the trip possible and giving me this opportunity. It’s been a really valuable experience, and I’ve learned plenty that I can take back to Australia.
“Richmond was a cool way to finish the trip. I caught up with Shane before the race and then watched it unfold in the Trackhouse team pit box.
“It has been a busy couple of weeks, but I’m looking forward to getting home and heading straight to Ipswich. We’ve had a strong run of results recently, so hopefully we can carry that momentum into the weekend.”