Anton De Pasquale has scored a lights-to-flag victory in the second race of the Repco Supercars Championship at the Dunlop Sydney 500.
De Pasquale held off a fast Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Mustang of Brodie Kostecki after he pitted late in what was a solid display of tyre life, but he fell just short of victory.
Penrite Racing’s Matt Payne was third to score his first podium of the season under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The victory for Team 18 is its second Repco Supercars Championship win after Mark Winterbottom’s win in Darwin during the 2023 season.
It was a dramatic encounter right from the start when rookie Jackson Walls made contact at Turn 1 with Declan Fraser and Macauley Jones leading to a puncture dropping him a lap.
At the front, De Pasquale was able to hold off Kostecki through Turn 1 as Ryan Wood made a slow jump to lose position to both Aaron Cameron and Cam Waters.
Further contact was made on lap 3 between Cam Hill and Zach Bates exiting Turn 5 due to interlocking wheels.
Bates was roughed up during the early stint of the race and was to finish 18th.
A safety car was called on lap 10 due to Andre Heimgartner’s R&J Batteries Racing Toyota Supra stopped on track due to an engine problem sparking the first round of pit stops.
It was chaos as Kostecki was held up by a double-stacking Thomas Randle, a loose wheel was hit an innocent Bates leaving Jayden Ojeda stranded, plus Red Bull Ampol Racing was penalised twice.
First, Broc Feeney was handed a 15s penalty following contact with James Golding exiting the lane, then Will Brown had the same occur due to spinning the wheels during his stop.
After the stops, De Pasquale led from Allen, Cameron, Kostecki, Waters, Wood, Feeney, Golding, David Reynolds and Randle.
Contact was made on the restart when the yellow flag was still displayed on the final corner causing a concertina as De Pasquale was nudged by Payne.
This didn’t affect De Pasquale, who built a margin back to Allen as the race entered a quiet phase approaching the second round of stops.
Payne was first to pit, but any potential undercut advantage was negated when de Pasquale came in a lap later.
Cameron’s race started to fall away when Reynolds barged his way through, then Waters, Wood and Allen in quick succession.
Kostecki’s second stop didn’t arrive until lap 37 to enjoy a significant advantage he put to good use when passing Payne for second on lap 46.
This didn’t leave enough time to catch De Pasquale as Kostecki fell just short of snatching victory.
Payne was well back in third from Waters, Reynolds and a recovering Feeney.
Wood was next ahead of Allen, a superb drive from Jack Le Brocq and Golding in 10th.
Mostert was another storm through from 22nd to 11th, while Cameron finished 16th, behind Brown.
The Repco Supercars Championship action continues at 12:10pm for Race 3 qualifying ahead of the Top 10 Shootout at 1:05pm followed by the main event at 4:05pm AEDT.