Twelfth victory for van Gisbergen, De Pasquale doubles the stakes

Second for the restart this Saturday, championship leader Shane van Gisbergen imposed his law this Sunday for the penultimate race of the weekend at SMP. Fifth on the grid, the Triple Eight driver made an excellent start which allowed him to quickly join the battle for victory against Will Davison (Dick Johnson Racing) while the pole sitter, Anton De Pasquale, fell to 7th after a bad takeoff.

Lights out for Race 21 and it's a wild, wild opening lap!! #RepcoSC pic.twitter.com/Y9Er1JBoCw

— Supercars (@supercars) October 31, 2021

Nestled in Davison's exhausts, SvG did not seem able to reduce the gap with the No. 17 Ford Mustang of DJR, in very good form this weekend as was the No. 11. The two men were separated by almost 2” as the pit stop game began.

Called back to his pit box at the end of the 15th lap of the race, Will Davison discovered that he was the victim of electronic problems on his dashboard, thus being unable to activate his pit limiter. The DJR driver then had to return to his location by his own means while not hoping to exceed the speed limit authorized in the pit lane.

A massive drama for Will Davison!!

His entire dash is out. This will make it a very difficult stop! #RepcoSC pic.twitter.com/jeBmHpq78k

— Supercars (@supercars) October 31, 2021

Meanwhile, Shane van Gisbergen, who had only put three tires on his Holden Commodore, compared to 4 for his opponent, took advantage of the DJR driver's setbacks to scold him. Back in the leading group, the championship leader then found himself battling with Anton De Pasquale who was trying to play into the hands of his teammate on the 23rd of the 32 laps of the race. Going wide in turn 2, ADP lost his duel and saw the Triple Eight driver take the reins. Launched, SvG was then no longer going to be caught by Will Davison and his technical problems who was content with 2nd place, two seconds behind. Nick Percat (Brad Jones Racing) took the last place on the podium after a great move on Brodie Kostecki (Erebus Motorsport). Initially 5th under the checkerboard, Anton De Pasquale was finally downgraded for having fitted a tire from his teammate's allowance.

A huge turning point in the race!

De Pasquale runs wide and SVG takes the lead of Race 21 #RepcoSC pic.twitter.com/DuMv40TDoX

— Supercars (@supercars) October 31, 2021

De Pasquale's response

On pole for the third time this weekend at SMP, Anton De Pasquale had revenge to take in this final race of the meeting after his downgrade a few hours before. Well started when the lights went out this time unlike race 2, the DJR driver completed a perfect first part of the test, sheltering himself from a possible attack from Will Brown (Erebus Motorsport) relegated to 3“4 in the 10th round.

Easily in the lead, Anton De Pasquale dove into the pit lane at the end of the 11th loop to mount 4 tires while Shane van Gisbergen, who had modeled his strategy on that of the leader, mounted 3. Meanwhile, Will Brown stayed on the track to try to gain some time on his rival.

Logically back in front after Will Brown's stop on the 16th lap, Anton De Pasquale saw him come back like a cannonball at the end of the race. The 10-second gap melted like snow in the sun and Brown came back under second four laps from the checkerboard. Under pressure, ADP showed great maturity not to give in to the rookie and thus sign his 2nd victory of the weekend, his 3rd this year and the 4th of his career. Starting 3rd and 4th respectively, Triple Eight drivers Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen crossed the line in the same positions. Victim of electronic problems in race 2, Will Davison completed the Top 5.

BROWN IS HALF A SECOND FROM PASQUALE!! #RepcoSC pic.twitter.com/O6BtOTJ9wa

— Supercars (@supercars) October 31, 2021