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USA

Sydney Supercars: De Pasquale wins ahead of thrilling podium battle

Anton De Pasquale cruised to victory in Race 2 at Sydney Motorsport Park while Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen triumphed in thrilling battle for the podium.

Shane van Gisbergen, Anton De Pasquale and Jamie Whincup

Shane van Gisbergen, Anton De Pasquale and Jamie Whincup

Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics

The race was an all-Dick Johnson Racing affair for a stint and a half, Will Davison challenging polesitter De Pasquale through Turn 1 and into Turn 2 on the opening lap.

De Pasquale managed to stave off that early challenge, the pair then settling into a rhythm for the first stint separated by a bit under two seconds.

On Lap 10 Davison went for the undercut, pitting for four new tyres. De Pasquale waited four laps longer to do the same, re-emerging around a second behind Davison.

De Pasquale then shadowed his teammate for a few laps before inquiring over the radio is there were any team orders in play. He was swiftly told that he was "free to race" by engineer Ludo Lacroix, De Pasquale then reclaiming the lead on Lap 20.

Once in front the form man was unstoppable, De Pasquale bolting to a 6s win.

"I'm glad it looks [easy], it doesn't feel it," he said. "I'd hard work. The cars are a handful after a few laps and you're just hanging on to it for the rest of it.

"We'll try and do something this afternoon. I don't think we've got many tyres left but we'll make something work."

Davison's early stop set up a thrilling battle for the podium spots as he came under pressure from Jamie Whincup, Chaz Mostert and Shane van Gisbergen late in the race.

Whincup, who stopped for three tyres on Lap 16, held off a challenge from Mostert early in the second stint before setting after Davison.

With four laps to go Whincup and Davison staged a thrilling side-by-side battle for several corners, the Red Bull Holden driver eventually able to get by.

That opened the door for Mostert to join the fun as well, a hip-and-shoulder on Davison at Turn 2 three laps from home setting up a pass for third.

The pain wasn't over for Davison, though, who a lap later found himself being passed for fourth by Shane van Gisbergen.

The Kiwi had run a classic overcut, taking on three new tyres on Lap 19. That gave him the rubber to not only get past Davison but hunt down Mostert, pipping the Walkinshaw driver for third by 0.01s in a drag race to the line.

"The end was awesome," said van Gisbergen.

"Carving through, everyone was racing well. And the last corner with Chaz, I saw him slide and keep wiggling. I was head down on the wheel like in a go kart trying to go faster."

Davison finished fifth ahead of Mark Winterbottom, Nick Percat and Erebus pair Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki.

Bryce Fullwood rounded out the Top 10.

Cla # Driver Car Time Gap Interval
1 11 Australia Anton De Pasquale
Ford Mustang GT -
2 88 Australia Jamie Whincup
Holden Commodore ZB 6.087 6.088 6.088
3 97 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen
Holden Commodore ZB 9.952 9.953 3.865
4 25 Australia Chaz Mostert
Holden Commodore ZB 9.960 9.960 0.007
5 17 Australia Will Davison
Ford Mustang GT 12.117 12.118 2.158
6 18 Australia Mark Winterbottom
Holden Commodore ZB 14.566 14.567 2.449
7 8 Australia Nick Percat
Holden Commodore ZB 16.650 16.650 2.084
8 9 Australia Will Brown
Holden Commodore ZB 26.093 26.094 9.443
9 99 Brodie Kostecki
Holden Commodore ZB 28.051 28.052 1.958
10 2 Australia Bryce Fullwood
Holden Commodore ZB 31.131 31.132 3.080
11 35 Australia Zane Goddard
Holden Commodore ZB 34.188 34.188 3.057
12 20 Australia Scott Pye
Holden Commodore ZB 39.384 39.384 5.196
13 14 Australia Todd Hazelwood
Holden Commodore ZB 43.557 43.557 4.173
14 5 Australia Jack Le Brocq
Ford Mustang GT 43.833 43.833 0.276
15 6 Australia Cameron Waters
Ford Mustang GT 44.133 44.134 0.300
16 7 New Zealand Andre Heimgartner
Ford Mustang GT 49.092 49.092 4.959
17 19 New Zealand Fabian Coulthard
Holden Commodore ZB 49.861 49.861 0.769
18 96 Australia Macauley Jones
Holden Commodore ZB 50.983 50.984 1.122
19 44 Australia James Courtney
Ford Mustang GT 51.462 51.463 0.479
20 3 Australia Tim Slade
Ford Mustang GT 53.149 53.150 1.687
21 4 Australia Jack Smith
Holden Commodore ZB 53.974 53.974 0.824
22 34 Australia Jake Kostecki
Holden Commodore ZB 55.045 55.046 1.071
23 26 Australia Luke Youlden
Ford Mustang GT 1'04.205 1'04.206 9.160
24 22 Australia Garry Jacobson
Holden Commodore ZB 1'08.948 1'08.948 4.743

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