ANTON De Pasquale has fronted up in candid fashion as he and Team 18 look to move on from their Bathurst 1000 nightmare and get stuck into the Supercars finals series.

After running out of fuel on the last lap while leading the Great Race, De Pasquale heads into this week’s Gold Coast 500 as the seventh seed.

Three of the 10 finalists will be eliminated from title contention by the end of Surfers Paradise.

“We’re obviously on that cut line now so hopefully by the end of the weekend we’re still into it and make it to Sandown with eyes on the final four,” said De Pasquale.

The 31-year-old described the mood at Mount Waverley as what is to be expected given the circumstances.

“We reset our goals as quick as possible, which is obviously this weekend,” he said.

“The mood is not great but everyone has still got their eyes on winning some surfboards here and still having a good weekend.”

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Reflecting on the agonising last lap at Mount Panorama as his DeWalt Camaro ground to a halt, De Pasquale said: “It was pretty shit. It’s exactly what you’d imagine it is.

“Still obviously there’s a lot of moments through the day and as a team, 12 months on, to be in a position to win that race and execute through the day, drivers and the crew and everything, is still something to be proud of. Obviously we don’t have anything to show for it but there’s still a lot of good things to take from it.”

He insists regrouping now won’t be an issue.

“We’ve got a team full of people who love being at the racetrack. They’re all racers and they’ve grown up around it, so getting to the next track and having eyes on the next prize is not a big problem,” said De Pasquale, who is under contract through 2027.

“Obviously we still lost the biggest race of the year, so that’s still going to hurt for a long time, but we’re able to differentiate between that and what we’re here for.”