Anton de Pasquale has upped his game in 2022.
De Pasquale, the form man of the end of 2021, has maintained an admirable consistency in the opening stanza of 2022.
He’s collected top-six finishes in all but two of the 12 races so far.
His total of three poles is the second most of any driver this season, one behind teammate Will Davison.
He has a commendable six podiums for the year to date.
The only thing missing? A victory.
De Pasquale’s accumulating minor silverware seems anomalous considering his lofty second place in the drivers championship, 164 points adrift of series leader Shane van Gisbergen. He’s the reigning champion’s closest challenger and comfortably ahead of Broc Feeney in the second Triple Eight car, and yet he’s still so far from being a contender.
What’s clicking for the Kiwi that isn’t for De Pasquale?
“I guess if we knew, we would be as fast as him,” he deadpans to Fox Sports. “Obviously they’ve stepped up since a year and a half ago, I think everyone can see that.
“They’re obviously near the top of their game at the moment, but we’re chomping at their heels.
“It’s part of the game. That’s motorsport. It is always changing. People are always finding things.”
Matching the leader will be a matter of knowing where to look.
MAN vs MACHINE
“There is one particular car which is super strong in race trim,” De Pasquale says, but he’s not referring to just Triple Eight’s place at the top of the standings by a relatively slender 113 points.
DJR is the undisputed king of qualifying this year, and between De Pasquale and Davison the team has claimed the majority of poles so far this season. It’s just converting that to race pace that’s been a problem, with only one of those P1 starts transfigured into victory — by Davison in the second race in Perth last time out.
It’s in that disparity between qualifying and race pace that Van Gisbergen’s been allowed to gap the field.
“It’s not just us chasing it,” De Pasquale says. “I think a race car has been quite strong — it’s just not as strong as one other car at the moment.
“In most races we’re stronger than most but not [stronger] than all.
“Obviously we’ve been so close so many times. It’s not end-of-the-world stuff and we’re not reinventing the wheel; we’re just sort of finetuning and making things up a bit better and try to maximise what we have.”
There were signs of recovery in that Perth victory of Davison’s. The Supercars veteran afterwards noted that his Mustang’s tyre life around the ordinarily rubber-killing Wanneroo circuit exceeded expectations.
But then again, there’s no escaping he benefited from Triple Eight being tripped up in qualifying, keeping Van Gisbergen at arm’s reach. And whereas the softs were on offer in Perth, Winton will make exclusive use of the slightly more delicate supersoft compound, albeit the track is less abrasive than the one out west.
“I think Perth is a little bit better for us, but there are still steps to be made,” De Pasquale said, tempering expectations amid the unknowns.
WHERE QUALIFYING COUNTS
But that qualifying pace could be De Pasquale’s ace this weekend, because he won’t have had a better chance to convert pole pace into victory than this weekend at Winton, where qualifying will count for more than it has so far this season.
The Benalla circuit layout is something of a departure from the tracks we’ve visited to date in 2022, One of the slowest tracks by average speed on the calendar, it rewards car dynamics over power thanks to its narrow and busy nature, which also means overtaking will be difficult — so starting from the front row will be valuable.
“It’s quite a difficult track to race on because it’s tight and twisty,” De Pasquale says. “So to get passing done is quite difficult.
“In terms of driving, it’s quite fun, it’s quite physical, it’s such a short and intense lap with so many corners in such a small space, so when you’re in race mode and you’re part of the train, you’re working quite hard.”
“It’s one of the harder ones to do. Driving it is awesome. It’s quite a different dynamic throughout the lap—a couple of faster corners, a couple of slower corners. They’ve changed a few of the corner shapes since we’ve been here last, so that’ll be interesting to see.”
There’s also some intrigue in terms of track temperatures. The mercury has plummeted this week in regional Victoria, and with Saturday practice and Sunday qualifying taking place in the morning, when the ambient will be in the low teens, firing up the tyres will be a key challenge — but one DJR’s single-lap pace should stand it in good stead to tackle.
A FAVOURABLE HISTORY
There’s more than just form on De Pasquale side this weekend, with much being made about DJR and Triple Eight’s relative records at Winton leading up to the race.
It’s one of T8’s few bogey circuits, with the championship-leading team having won here just once in 17 attempts, with that victory coming in Van Gisbergen’s hands five years ago.
DJR, on the other hand, has won the last three races here and four of the last six. It’s also taken five of the last six pole positions, all of which came with Scott McLaughlin at the wheel.
It’s history that could make the difference in the sport’s first visit to Benalla since the pandemic, and it could present a small advantage on a shortened two-day weekend, with practice time limited and thinking time constricted by the condensed racing schedule.
“Without Friday practice, you haven’t got time to do any sort of major changes throughout the day,” De Pasquale says. “You can do sort of minor bandaids throughout the day, but you can’t reinvent the wheel in such a short time, so then you see sometimes Saturday and Sunday you can make a big step or you can obviously go the wrong way as well.
“Without that Friday practice and that one extra night’s sleep on information, you have to roll out strong, driver and car.
“You haven’t got time to think about it yourself either, so you’ve got to roll out of the box strong, hope that the car’s strong as well and do it that way.
“As a team, as a collective, we’ve pretty good at it this year, so hopefully we can carry that on.
“You’re always trying to roll out as quick as possible with the car as close to the window as it can be.
“You see if you don’t [get it right] more in these short weekends.”
‘THE COMPETITIVE NATURAL INSTINCT’
If DJR’s qualifying pace and strong Winton history are enough for De Pasquale to take the step forward he needs to challenge Van Gisbergen, it won’t be because they’re came-changing advantages but because the margins are finer than they appear despite the leading Kiwi’s run of wins.
It’s why De Pasquale says his winless run this season isn’t frustrating him but is rather a motivating force, and it’s notable that nerves are cool in the face of a season that hasn’t yet gone to plan.
The target remains on himself, and when he mounts the top step again, he knows he and the team will have made the difference — and the title fight might finally be one.
“In such a competitive field, the last year of the current car, everyone’s cars are so finetuned,” he says.
“We’re still getting a lot of good results and a lot of results that most people would desire, so we’re not in a bad position, but obviously we’re so close that we want to win every race, and that is kind of the competitive natural instinct as well.
“I wouldn’t say it’s frustrating, but if you’re not winning, anyone, us included, the guys we’re competing against included, you’re obviously wanting to win.
“As for the guys next door, they’re doing an awesome job with their car. We just have to try and do a little bit better, try and find something that works and hopefully make it stick for the rest of the season.
“We’ve been pretty much in it at every race and we’ve had a few poles and everything like that, so I’m sure it’ll come, but we’ve just got to keep working hard and let the results will come.
“When you’re fast enough and in a position to win and you win, you deserve it.
“If you’re not, you’ve got to try and work out how to do it at the next one.”
