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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnton De Pasquale at the Gold Coast 500 media call. Image: Supplied <\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAnton De Pasquale at the Gold Coast 500 media call. Image: Supplied <\/p>\n
The 31-year-old faced media on Monday ahead of the weekend\u2019s Gold Coast 500, where he\u2019ll be in the thick of the Finals Series action.<\/p>\n
Speaking just eight days after running out of fuel while leading on the last lap of the Great Race, De Pasquale gave an honest assessment of the fallout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mood is what is expected,\u201d he said of the atmosphere within the Melbourne-based squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, the guys got into [servicing] the cars really quickly, and we reset our goals as quick as possible, which is obviously this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mood\u2019s not great, but everyone\u2019s still got their eyes on winning some surfboards here and still having a good weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite that frank admission, De Pasquale is confident the team can put its best foot forward on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n
De Pasquale enters the weekend seventh in the standings, just nine points above the cut-off line to transition to the Semi-Final at Sandown.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a team full of people who love being at the racetrack, and they\u2019re all racers, and they\u2019ve grown up around it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo getting to the next track and having eyes on the next prize is not a big problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we still lost the biggest race of the year, so that\u2019s still going to hurt for a long time, but we\u2019re able to differentiate between that and what we\u2019re here for.\u201d<\/p>\n