De Pasquale confident of Tailem Bend doubleheader

Penrite Racing young gun Anton De Pasquale is confident he has the team and tools behind him when the Championship heads to Tailem Bend this weekend.

It will mark the first of two back-to-back events in South Australia, with the first held on the regular International circuit before switching to the shorter West circuit next weekend.

“It’s good to go back at another happy hunting ground for us and obviously we had the pre-season test there so we know where to start the weekend,” De Pasquale said.

“It’s really cool to be racing on two different circuits to make things a bit different, but for teams everything we have learnt will still transfer over with only small differences.”

De Pasquale’s trip to Tailem Bend in 2019 was his best weekend of the year, finishing with a podium and seventh from the weekends two races while teammate David Reynolds finished with a podium the year earlier.
 
The #99 Holden was also third fastest at the pre-season test day earlier this year and since his win in Darwin he has recorded seven top 10 finishes and qualified inside the top 10 on eight occasions.

The young driver credits his results to his relationship with Race Engineer Mirko De Rosa and the experience they are both gaining together.

“When we first started together, we both had a lot to learn and to prove to other people that we could do it, but at the same time we were both pretty patient in that we weren’t going to get better overnight,” De Pasquale said.

“Once we worked out that we were both had the same attitude, we both worked really hard to achieve goals together which has been pretty cool, so we have ticked off a few now but we still have a lot to go.

“Every time we go to the track we have more tools in our toolbox and naturally things start to happen a bit quicker.

“Our race pace is now one of our strengths which it hasn’t been before, so we’ve worked well on weaker areas to make them better."

While De Pasquale and De Rosa are both from Italian heritage, De Rosa says there are two key components at the foundation of their partnership and the key to their success.

“We have built a really solid relationship based on honesty and trust,” De Rosa said.

“It’s like any relationship, without those two components, what is the point? If he didn’t trust me or I didn’t trust him then how can we work together to make the car go faster? We trust the others opinion.

“We are both pretty straight forward and to the point and don’t gloss over things, we try to solve any issues as quick as possible and move on.

“I think that is 100% one of our strengths. We relate well to each other. We don’t cover anything up.

“Anton has a lot of talent and skill driving the car, but just as importantly, he is honest which helps a lot. He knows what he wants, he wants to be the best, he does everything he can to achieve the goal.”

The weekend’s action kicks off Saturday with one 24-lap race, followed by another two Sunday.