Team 18 set for 500km Battle

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Team 18 has wrapped up Saturday’s qualifying action at The Bend Motorsport Park, with DEWALT Racing’s Anton De Pasquale qualifying seventh and TRADIE Energy Racing’s David Reynolds 12th ahead of tomorrow’s 500km Airtouch 500.

Saturday began with the co-drivers behind the wheel in a 40-minute session. Lee Holdsworth took charge of the TRADIE Energy Camaro and quickly settled into a rhythm, finishing second fastest overall. In the DEWALT entry, Harri Jones continued his acclimatisation in race trim while dovetailing his duties with Carrera Cup where he scored pole and a Race 1 win.

The final practice session saw both Team 18 cars running inside the top 10. Reynolds found improvements and jumped to fifth, with De Pasquale placing seventh.

In qualifying, Reynolds had a challenging run and just missed out on the shootout in 12th.

De Pasquale progressed into the Top Ten Shootout and eventually secured seventh on the grid after posting a strong early lap before track conditions peaked for the later runners.

Team 18 are back on track for a 20-minute warm-up at 9:30am before the Airtouch 500 gets underway at 1:45pm ACST over 102 laps. All the action can be viewed live on Fox Sports and Kayo.

RESULTS & QUOTES

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

Practice 4: 2nd
Practice 5: 9th
Qualifying: 12th

“We entered today with hardly got any laps in yesterday with all the dramas, I’d only done about four flying laps before today, so I know it might’ve been a bit of a struggle. All in all, looking back it was reasonably successful.

“In Practice 5 we focussed on qualifying and ended up fifth fastest which was an awesome job to make my car get a lot of grip. My first set of tyres was nowhere, but on the next set I went a second quicker and with a small change the car felt like it was in the window.

“I went into qualifying with high hopes. We opted for two sets of tyres and mostly everyone opted for three, so things might’ve been different if we had three sets all up. On the first run I was quickest at the time, even though I had to pass heaps of cars and deal with traffic. Then we came in and tried to make a change to give the car more rear grip, but it actually gave me less and made it really hard to drive. On that last run I ran off and sprayed it, but honestly, I don’t think I would’ve made it in anyway.

“We start 12th, which isn’t too bad, and from there we can definitely do some damage tomorrow.”

Lee Holdsworth – Co-Driver – #20 TRADIE Energy Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

“It was a good day. I think we’ve got a pretty solid race car. I had a good run in my sessions and felt pretty comfortable.

“Dave just missed out on the Shootout but he did a ripper job, both the boys did a great job in qualifying. Now we look towards tomorrow foe the race and see if we can put an even better car on track for tomorrow.”

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

Practice 4: 9th
Practice 5: 7th
Qualifying: 9th
Shootout: 7th

“Saturday at The Bend done – qualifying day. It was a good day for us, we made it into the Shootout and moved up a couple of spots to start seventh for the 500, which is really positive. I felt like we progressed and maximised what we had.

“Our lap was pretty good, but the Shootout kept getting quicker as the track cooled off. Still, it’s a 500km race tomorrow. I think we’ve got a competitive car, so we’ll see what it’s like in race trim and go from there.”

Harri Jones – Co-Driver – #18 DEWALT Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

“I’m really excited for tomorrow, it’s been a really good day today. Anton’s been very strong, the car feels really well tuned, and I’m starting to feel comfortable behind the wheel. It’s all starting to click together.

“Tomorrow will be a long one, so it’s about keeping our heads down, executing on what we know, and giving the car back to Anton in a good spot to bring it home.”