Cub Cadet Racing’s Anton De Pasquale and TRADIE Energy Racing’s David Reynolds delivered a strong showing in Saturday’s Races 23 and 24 at the Ipswich Super440 at Queensland Raceway, highlighted by De Pasquale’s fourth-place finish in the final race of the day.

Qualifying on the soft tyre for Race 23 saw Reynolds start sixth and De Pasquale 13th. Switching to the Super Soft compound for Race 24, both drivers were fast out of the gates, holding first and third in the opening segment before rain hit in Part 2, ultimately lining up sixth and seventh on the grid.

Race 23 was eventful from the outset. Reynolds was pushed wide on the opening lap and dropped to the rear, showing strong recovery pace before slipping on oil in the closing laps while attempting a pass, ending his race in the gravel and classified 24th. De Pasquale held a spot in the top six before a slow stop due to a left-rear issue dropped him to eighth.

In Race 24, Reynolds made the jump on De Pasquale at Turn 2, but an early pit strategy for De Pasquale paid dividends. Stopping on Lap 15, he undercut several rivals to climb to third, eventually finishing fourth. Reynolds pitted later, rejoining deeper in the pack and battling back to finish ninth.

Both drivers felt the team had strong pace on the Super Soft tyre, with De Pasquale crediting strategy and pit work for his race two result, and Reynolds optimistic about improving the car’s soft tyre performance for Sunday’s finale.

Team 18 will return to the track on Sunday for qualifying at 10:20am, a Top Ten Shootout at 11:40am, and the 200km, 63-lap feature race at 3:15pm. All sessions will be broadcast live on Fox Sports and Kayo.

RESULTS & QUOTES

Anton De Pasquale – #18 Cub Cadet Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Qualifying (Race 23): 6th
Qualifying (Race 24): 6th
Race 23: 8th
Race 24: 4th

“We had a good couple of races today. We had an average pit stop in the first one, which cost a couple spots and was around that top six, but still had some decent car speed.

“We had a really good strategy call and an awesome stop by the guys to do a big undercut in the last race to come fourth.

“We had some really good pace and looking forward to tomorrow.”

David Reynolds – #20 TRADIE Energy Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Qualifying (Race 23): 13th
Qualifying (Race 24): 7th
Race 23: 24th
Race 24: 9th

“For the first race I started 13th and got tipped out on the first lap and went back to last. But my car was pretty good and I drove through the field and a couple of laps to go, I was passing for 14th and slipped on some oil and put it in the sand and beached it. So that was all my fault and I just misjudged what was on the road at the time and just stuffed it up.

“Race two started seventh. I got a good start. I was rolling around sixth in the first stint, sort of just holding my own. We took four tyres in the stop, we dropped back a fair bit and had to fight back through to ninth.

“Anton looks like he did the better strategy and pitted earlier and jumped a lot of people. So maybe if we did that, my result would’ve been a little bit better. But all in all, I was happy with my car in that last one, just need to work on a few bits and pieces and I think we will have another good run tomorrow.

“I think our car suits the super soft tyre better and just the characteristic of that tyre seems to suit our car better at this track. Tomorrow is the soft tyre, so we’ve got some work to do to improve on that.”