It was a pair of Kiwis that set the pace early in the half-hour session, Shane van Gisbergen leading the way before Andre Heimgartner jumped to the top with a 1m02.206s at the 12-minute mark.
Van Gisbergen hit back with a 1m02.835s a few minutes later before Davison jumped them both with a 1m02.795s.
Davison then lowered his best time to a 1:02.456s during the happy hour at the end of the session, but it wasn't enough to hold off teammate De Pasquale, who set a 1m02.206s running green tyres at the flag.
"We tossed and turned for a couple of weeks on what we were going to do there and thought, 'why not?'," said De Pasquale of the decision to run greens.
"We haven’t been here for a few years. [We can] go to sleep with a little bit of knowledge of what to expect tomorrow.
"It might put us on the back foot at some point but it worked out for now so we’ll see how we go. We have got a good read on the car so that’s the main thing of today."
Heimgartner won the battle of the Kiwis with the third fastest time ahead of van Gisbergen, who survived a mid-session off at the hairpin.
Cam Waters finished fifth fastest despite nudging the wall at Turn 4 early in the session.
Walkinshaw Andretti United pair Chaz Mostert and Nick Percat were sixth and seventh followed by Macauley Jones, Lee Holdsworth and Jack Le Brocq.
