Anton De Pasquale has claimed victory in the penultimate Supercars race at the Sydney Supernight, thanks to a faultless pit stop by his Shell V-Power team.
De Pasquale began the race on pole with soft compound tyres but was leapfrogged by Shane Van Gisbergen on his harder compounds, before retaking the lead on lap two.
He powered to a 57-second lead over Van Gisbergen midway through the race, before an efficient 8.4 second stop on lap 14 allowed the 26-year-old to exit just ahead of the Red Bull driver who had already pitted.
Van Gisbergen got within 1.5 seconds of the leader but couldn't close the gap, as De Pasquale cruised to his fourth victory at Sydney Motorsport Park, his third in two weeks.
"Our car was a jet, it was good to show it as we didn't get to yesterday. But good to get the win today and everyone is working hard," he told Fox Sports.
"One more tonight so we'll try and do something with that, but yeah, stoked with that one."
As rain threatened the latter stages of race 24, teams speculated over the need for wet tyres when darkness surrounded the track.
Van Gisbergen's second-place finish increased his championship lead to 418 points over teammate Jamie Whincup, who was forced to make a second pit stop following a tyre puncture, eventually finishing 25th.
But the man who has won 13 races this year had high praise for De Pasquale.
"Man, he's on fire. He was driving really well, too fast for us," Van Gisbergen said.
"It's alright, we've got another one tonight and we'll have another crack, it's good points and I cant thank the team enough. The pitstop was great and it worked out really well."
James Courtney nabbed third place for Boost Mobile Racing, while Will Davison and Scott Pye rounded out the top five.
SUPERCARS RACE 24
1. Anton De Pasquale (Shell V-Power Racing)
2. Shane Van Gisbergen (Red Bull Ampol Racing) + 8.303
3. James Courtney (Boost Mobile Racing) +17.504
4. Will Davison (Shell V-Power Racing) +17.824
5. Scott Pye (DEWALT Racing) +19.714
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1. Shane Van Gisbergen (Red Bull Ampol Racing) 2390 pts
2. Jamie Whincup (Red Bull Ampol Racing) 1972 pts
3. Will Davison (Shell V-Power Racing) 1901 pts
4. Chaz Mostert (Mobil 1(tm) Appliances Online Racing) 1809 pts
5. Cameron Waters (Monster Energy Racing) 1774 pts
