DEWALT Racing’s Anton De Pasquale has claimed a strong fifth-place finish in the first-ever Supercars race at Christchurch’s Ruapuna Raceway, while Snowy River Racing’s David Reynolds was forced out on the opening lap in his milestone 500th start.

The field hit the track for the first time in Practice 1, with the team working through a 45-minute session to get up to speed around the new Ruapuna layout.

Qualifying followed with a two-part format. Reynolds missed the top ten shootout, qualifying 18th and just two-tenths shy of progressing. De Pasquale advanced through to Part 2 and secured sixth on the grid, the leading Chevrolet driver.

Reynolds’ race came undone almost immediately, caught in contact off the start that caused significant damage to the front-right corner of the Snowy River Racing Camaro and forced an early retirement. The team began repairs during the race, with further work continuing overnight to have the car ready for Saturday’s action.

At the front, De Pasquale made a clean start to move into fifth and remained in the fight throughout the 37-lap race. Opting for four tyres during the compulsory pit stop, he briefly lost position to Golding, who took two tyres, before hunting him down and reclaiming the spot at Turn 4 with nine laps remaining.

Action resumes on Saturday with Qualifying for Races 11 and 12 from 10:05am NZST, followed by two 120km sprint races. Race 11 gets underway at 12:45pm, before Race 12 at 4:10pm. All sessions will be broadcast live on Fox Sports, Kayo and Sky Sports NZ.

RESULTS & QUOTES

Anton De Pasquale, driver #18 DEWALT Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Practice 1: 8th (1:21.9280)
Qualifying (Race 10): 6th (1:21.7564)
Race 10: 5th

“First day here in Christchurch, Ruapuna Raceway. It’s always cool learning new tracks and finding different ways around new places.

“For us it was a solid day finishing fifth. A little bit to find to get to the front guys, so some things to look at tonight and a couple of sprint races tomorrow.”

David Reynolds, driver #500 Snowy River Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Practice 1: 18th (1:22.3989)
Qualifying (Race 10): 18th (1:22.1416)
Race 10: DNF

“A bit of a disappointing day. Didn’t get the most out of practice, we had a few dramas, and qualifying just didn’t maximise it at all.

“We started 18th and barely got going. Got an average start and then got sandwiched by two BJR cars and that was my race over. The car was too broken to keep going. Very disappointing day for my 500th.”