DEWALT Racing’s Anton De Pasquale delivered his first podium for Team 18 with a hard-fought second-place finish in Race 18, capping off a wild and action-packed Saturday at Hidden Valley Raceway for the Darwin Triple Crown.

The day began with a chaotic Race 17, where both De Pasquale and TRADIE Energy Racing’s David Reynolds were caught up in incidents across the opening laps. De Pasquale suffered contact from Stanaway and subsequently made contact with Jones at Turn 4. That incident and another for Evans at Turn 1 triggered the first safety car of the day. Just after the restart, Reynolds was an innocent victim when Stanaway hit Percat, sending him into the TRADIE Energy Chevrolet and bending the steering.

Both cars battled on with cosmetic and mechanical damage, with De Pasquale bringing the DEWALT Camaro home in 14th and Reynolds in 19th. The team was forced to change the steering rack on De Pasquale’s car between races to ensure it was ready for Race 18, with the crew narrowly making it out to the grid

Earlier in the day, the team showed much stronger pace in Qualifying for Race 18. De Pasquale progressed through to Part 2 and fired in a stunning lap to secure second on the grid, while Reynolds narrowly missed the cut and started 14th.

In Race 18 on the Super Soft tyre, De Pasquale slotted into second off the line behind Feeney and held position through the opening stint. The DEWALT Camaro showed strong speed, and after pitting on Lap 24, De Pasquale emerged fourth on track. With fresh tyres, he quickly dispatched Kostecki and Allen to reclaim second, holding position to the flag to seal his first podium since joining Team 18 at the start of 2025. The result lifts him into tenth in the championship and inside the crucial Supercars Finals cutoff.

Reynolds also showed strong pace in Race 18, climbing as high as 13th before being taken out on the penultimate lap in a multi-car concertina at Turn 5 involving Courtney, Davison and Randle. The contact left his car unable to restart, with the race finishing under safety car.

Team 18 returns to the track on Sunday for the final day of the Darwin Triple Crown, with qualifying for Race 19 at 9:05am ACST, the Top 10 Shootout at 11:35am and Race 19 at 2:40pm. Catch all the action live on Fox Sports and Kayo.

RESULTS & QUOTES

Anton De Pasquale – driver #18 DEWALT Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Qualifying (Race 17): 19th
Qualifying (Race 18):  2nd
Race 17: 14th
Race 18: 2nd

“Super busy day. It was a mixed bag for us. We at the front in one, at the back in the other.

“Carnage galore in the first race today on the soft tyre with cars going everywhere. I made up a few spots but just starting a bit far back.

“On the super soft we were on the front row and scored our first podium, which is really exciting. Super pumped for everyone in the team for that.

“We just need to understand how we can translate that to the soft tyre tomorrow because we’re back on that one. So we’ll be working hard tonight and hopefully we can do it again.”

David Reynolds – driver #20 TRADIE Energy Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Qualifying (Race 17): 13th
Qualifying (Race 18): 14th
Race 17: 19th
Race 18: NC

“Today we went in with pretty high hopes after being fourth in practice.

“We knew it was going to be different qualifying this morning. The track temp was like 45 degrees yesterday and this morning was more like 20 degrees in qualifying, so that was a bit of a challenge and we tried to balance the car towards that and we just probably undershot it a little bit.

“In my first qualifying session I was happy with my lap and I ended up 13th and I thought I did the best job I could and I was surprised that all these blokes filed in front of me.

“The next qualifying session on the super soft was okay. The car was making way less grip for me and I qualified 14th.

“First race today. I got an okay start. I was trucking along okay then someone drilled me really hard and bent on my steering and made my car quite funny. It turned a lot better right than left, but majority of the corners here are left-handed. It made it really difficult after that. We just struggled and finished 19th.

“Last race got a good start. The car actually felt like it was pretty speedy and I got going. We pitted, maybe pitted too early a little bit. At the end of the race I was having a battle with Will Davison trying to pass him and just something went wrong and someone crashed in to him. There was about a three per person concertina and I was the fourth person who just got hit out of the way and my car wouldn’t start after that, so I was a non finisher. So, pretty disappointing day after practice.”