Team 18’s Anton De Pasquale has secured his place in the next round of the Supercars Finals at Sandown, overcoming opening-lap damage to finish 14th in Race 32 at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.

The result capped a weekend that included provisional pole for De Pasquale on Friday, followed by fourth in Saturday’s race and a second-place finish for teammate David Reynolds.

Sunday began with wet-weather qualifying, where Reynolds placed 14th in the No. 48 Snowy River Racing Chevrolet Camaro with a 1:16.4978. De Pasquale qualified 21st aboard the No. 18 Cub Cadet Racing Chevrolet Camaro, recording a 1:17.0262.

Both drivers’ races were compromised on the opening lap. Contact left De Pasquale with a right-rear puncture, forcing an immediate pit stop for a replacement tyre and a top-up of fuel before the compulsory pit stop window had opened.

Reynolds was also caught in the opening-lap chaos, with contact at Turn 13 sending the Snowy River Camaro into the tyre barriers. He returned to the garage for repairs, losing two laps before rejoining.

The Safety Car was deployed on lap two, with four laps spent under caution before racing resumed.

De Pasquale completed his first compulsory stop on lap 12 for four tyres and fuel, before making his second stop on lap 56. Despite damage affecting the Camaro’s pace, he kept circulating to recover seven positions from his starting spot and finish 14th.

With the Finals order finely balanced throughout the closing stages, De Pasquale’s result ultimately delivered enough points to progress to Sandown and keep his championship campaign alive.

Reynolds persevered with his damaged Camaro to finish 22nd after Saturday’s podium breakthrough.

Team 18 now turns its attention to Sandown on 6-8 November for the second round of the Supercars Finals Series and the penultimate round of the season.

RESULTS & QUOTES

Anton De Pasquale, driver – No. 18 Cub Cadet Racing Chevrolet Camaro

Qualifying – Race 32: P21 (1:17.0262)
Race 32: P14

“We’ve made it through to Sandown, which is really exciting for our Finals campaign. It was super tight.

“We had a heap of damage from the start, so the car wasn’t very fast. We just tried to find some clean air, keep circulating and survive, which we did, and we snuck through.

“I’m looking forward to getting to Sandown. We had a car on the podium there last year, so hopefully we can do that again.”

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

Qualifying – Race 32: P14 (1:16.4978)
Race 32: P22

“Saturday was awesome. We finished second and my car was amazing. Qualifying was wet again this morning, so I was hoping we’d have a fast car. We thought it was going to dry out a bit more, but we didn’t quite select the right set-up and ended up 14th.

“I was pretty comfortable starting from 14th because that’s where we started yesterday. At the start, though, I couldn’t see the lights. I saw the five-second board, got my revs up and set my throttle, but when I looked up, I couldn’t tell what was happening.

“I had to wait until everyone else went before I could go, and it was a bit chaotic after that. I got hit into the fence on the first lap, which put us two laps down, and we just circulated from there.

“All in all, it was a good job by the team. We finished second yesterday and Anton made it through to the next round of the Finals at Sandown today, so we achieved that objective.”