A crash at The Esses ruined Anton De Pasquale’s Bathurst hopes in one of the toughest races at the famous mountain there has been..
Rain and limited vision played havoc throughout the 161 laps of the most famous race in Australia as it went down to the wire.
While James Golding crossed the line first, it was Matthew Payne and Garth Tander, who claimed the win after Golding was hit with a five second penalty after a late race collision with then leader Cooper Murray, with only six seconds separating the top four teams.
For Werribee South’s De Pasquale, he was one of the several victims that came to a halt on the mountain.
Hoping to improve on his best finish of third in 2023, De Pasquale was one of many that came to to grief as the weather changed.
Having qualified in ninth spot, he had heavy contact with the well on the front of the car at the Esses after being caught out in the slippery conditions.
The crash caused damage to both the front and back of the car and put it in the garage for several laps as the team worked tirelessly to get it back out on the track.
While they were able to get the car back on the track, the pairing of De Pasquale and Harri Jones finished in 20th spot having finished 141 laps.
It was enough for the side to be classified and claim some points out of the race, which was a bonus out of the tough day.
The team at Team 18 Racing had a big weekend, after Jones came unstuck at The Chase during co-driver practice earlier in the weekend.
De Pasquale said it was a chaotic weekend of racing.
“Mixed weather, shunted a car … not very good,” he said on team 18 racing social media after the race.
“We were in the shootout with my car.
“We had pace on and off in the race as well. Just stuffed it up and half wrote it off, but unreal by the team to get the car back out.
“Kept us in the same championship position which is really good for the finals, the sole objective of the week other than winning the thing we achieved.”
Jones said they experienced the highs and lows of motorsport.
It was his first time racing in the Bathurst 1000.
“It’s been a bit of a baptism of fire this week,” he said.
“The dry speed was really fast and then to make the race interesting we just had to add water and it definitely turned it on.
“Strategy didn’t really play our way.”
De Pasquale remains seventh in the championship and sits just under 1000 points behind leader Brock Feeney.
He has now classified for the finals.
De Pasquale’s teammate David Reynolds finished in second spot along with Lee Holdsworth.
