The Supercar once destined to become part of Will Brown’s title defence has made its track debut in the hands of his former Erebus Motorsport ally Anton De Pasquale.
Triple Eight had chipped away at a new chassis to reward which ever of its drivers won the 2024 Championship, with Brown prevailing over teammate Broc Feeney.
However, that chassis was sold in December when Team18 came calling and it has now been assembled as De Pasquale’s #18 DeWalt Camaro.
Pasquale hailed his maiden drive aboard Team 18’s new chassis as “faultless,” following the star recruit’s laps at a shakedown at Winton Motor Raceway.
De Pasquale got behind the wheel of his newly-built Chevrolet Camaro on Thursday, with the former Dick Johnson Racing driver joined by new teammate David Reynolds.
The fourth Gen3 Camaro built by the team, chassis T18-004, takes over from chassis T18-002, which was previously driven by Mark Winterbottom in 2023 and 2024.
Reynolds will begin the 2025 campaign behind the wheel of T18-003, the chassis he drove at the 2024 Gold Coast and Adelaide rounds, while T18-002 will transition to serve as the team’s spare car for the upcoming season.
De Pasquale got laps in T18-002 in a series of tests at Mount Panorama at the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour, which came after he briefly sampled the Camaro at The Bend Motorsport Park in December.
Alongside De Pasquale and T18-004, Team 18 has also welcomed new Race Engineer Andrew Donnelly, formerly of Brad Jones Racing.
Per Supercars rules, a new car is permitted up to 60km of running at a shakedown, with Reynolds on site to help fast-track De Pasquale’s transition.
Speaking after Thursday’s laps, De Pasquale said the day was “productive,” and that the new car ran without a hitch
“I just finished my first day with Team 18, a shakedown in our brand new DEWALT Camaro,” the 29-year-old said.
“It’s ran faultlessly, it rolled out of the truck feeling really good straight away. The whole team did an amazing job with the build.
“It was a productive day, we went through a few things and worked through my first day with the team at the race track.
“It’s pretty exciting, everything ran really good, so I’m looking forward to getting to Sydney next week.”
Dick Johnson Racing, Matt Stone Racing and Brad Jones Racing also completed new-car shakedowns this week, headlined by Brodie Kostecki’s first laps in a Mustang Supercar.
Cameron Hill lapped his new MSR Camaro at Queensland Raceway on Thursday, while Andre Heimgartner got behind the wheel of his new BJR Chevrolet at Winton on Wednesday.
The new-look Team 18 Camaros will roll out at the pre-season test day at Sydney Motorsport Park on February 19, and Thrifty Sydney 500 – Opening Round on February 21-23.
