Team 18 has made a positive start to the 2026 Repco Bathurst 1000, with both main game

Camaros finishing inside the top five in each of Thursday’s opening practice sessions at Mount

Panorama.

Snowy River Racing’s David Reynolds placed third in Practice 1 aboard his new-look No. 48

Chevrolet, while DEWALT Racing’s Anton De Pasquale finished fifth.

The afternoon’s co-driver-only session saw James Courtney finish fourth in the Snowy River

Racing entry, with Lee Holdsworth close behind in fifth.

De Pasquale and Holdsworth shared the opening session as the cars rolled out at Mount

Panorama for the first time this weekend, while Reynolds completed all the running in Car 48.

Reynolds recorded a best lap of 2:06.0350, with De Pasquale posting a 2:06.1963 as both crews

worked through brake packages and setup adjustments.

While Reynolds was initially unhappy with the car’s balance, a change of tyres for his final run

brought an improvement as track conditions continued to develop throughout the session.

Courtney and Holdsworth then took the wheel for Practice 2, recording best laps of 2:06.0546 and

2:06.0794 respectively, separated by just 0.0248 seconds.

Courtney reported feeling comfortable and confident in a consistent car that responded well to

changes, while Holdsworth described a solid opening day with both cars showing encouraging

speed and further fine-tuning to come.

The team will build on Thursday’s running ahead of Friday’s two practice sessions and qualifying.

Friday’s action begins with Practice 3 at 10:05am, followed by Practice 4 at 1:15pm and

Qualifying at 4:10pm. All times are AEDT. All the action can be viewed live on Channel 7, Fox

Sports and Kayo.

RESULTS & QUOTES

Anton De Pasquale, Primary Driver – No. 18 DEWALT Racing Chevrolet Camaro

Practice 1: P5 (2:06.1963)

Practice 2: P5 (2:06.0794)

“Thursday done. A couple of practices, one for myself and one for Lee. Pretty cruisy day, just

doing some laps, working on some things.

“Working through some different sets of brakes and stuff, having some issues with those. But

yeah, both cars seem okay. Gets a bit more heated tomorrow.”

Lee Holdsworth, Co-Driver – No. 18 DEWALT Racing Chevrolet Camaro

“Yeah, good first day. Solid. We’ve come out of it with two straight cars and two quite quick cars,

so we’ve ticked a lot of boxes for day one.

“We’ve got some more tuning to do, but the good thing is it seems like it’s fine-tuning to get us in

a speedier window.

“All in all, I think we’re all very happy with day one.”

David Reynolds, Primary Driver – No. 48 Snowy River Racing Chevrolet Camaro

Practice 1: P3 (2:06.0350)

Practice 2: P4 (2:06.0546)“Yeah, the result looks fairly positive. Obviously very early days, and you don’t know what tyres

people had and fuel loads and all that stuff, so you don’t really know the full extent of everyone

else. But we’re pretty happy with where we are.

“In my session, we were trying different brakes and trying to figure out what was cause and effect

and all that stuff. I wasn’t that happy at the start, and then the last run we put another set of tyres

on and the car sort of came good.

“I think the track was also getting better and better as the day went on. Then JC jumped in and,

mate, he did awesome. For a part-time driver, it’s like he had a full-time career once. He’s a

bloody good driver, so I’m happy to have him.”

James Courtney, Co-Driver – No. 48 Snowy River Racing Chevrolet Camaro

“It’s Thursday. Let’s not all get too excited. But no, the car’s very consistent. It’s responding to

changes.

“I’m quite comfortable within the car, which is very important given that I don’t drive it very often.

I’d say I’m very comfortable, and the car gives me the confidence to push.

“Today we’re leaving a lot on the table and not risking it at all. But yeah, very positive.”