It has taken 17 races and a parity review but Ford have finally cracked their Gen3 Supercars chequered flag drought on the streets of Townsville via Shell V-Power Racing’s Anton De Pasquale.

Long have the Mustangs toiled through round after round, race after race, enjoying podiums but never quite greeting the chequered flag first since the new cars joined the grid this year.

Ford’s Cam Waters officially has a race win to his name, from a round one victory in Newcastle, but that came via disqualification to both Red Bull Ampol Racing drivers.

Chevrolets had dominated in Newcastle, Melbourne, Perth, Tasmania, Darwin, and even in Saturday’s first race in Townsville.

But De Pasquale finally brought a Mustang home after 88 laps and 250km around Reid Park to win his first race at the circuit and put Ford on the board in 2023.

His was one of two Mustangs finishing in the top 10 along with Thomas Randle.

“We haven’t had a great start to the season but we’ve slowly been turning around and today everything worked out for us,” De Pasquale said.

“First trophy for a lot of the new guys in our team as well so it’s a real buzz.

“The car was really pacy today in a lot of the stints which as awesome.”

De Pasquale started from sixth and quickly moved to third in the opening laps before opting for an early pit stop on lap 10.

Pole-sitter Waters continued to lead an incident-free race before the majority of Sunday’s leading pack pitted on lap 27.

Nine laps later and De Pasquale was in again, before swiftly passing Will Brown with a stop in hand to propel himself into serious consideration for the race.

With 24 laps remaining, De Pasquale’s third stop brought new rear tyres and a fresh fuel top-up, and he resumed with an open track in front of him.

The 27-year-old cruised to the chequered flag and won by five seconds to end a 34-race win drought stretching back to Darwin last year.

He became the eighth different race winner in 2023 and also ended a 23-race streak of either a Holden or GM car taking victory in Supercars.

Brodie Kostecki won a late race duel with Andre Heimgartner for second on the podium, while Shane van Gisbergen came from the heavens and a 25th-placed start to secure fifth in his 500th career race.

Will Brown’s sixth-placed finish ensured Erebus Motorsport still sit atop the championship standings with Kostecki in second.

RACE 17 RESULTS:

1. Anton De Pasquale (Shell V-Power Racing)

2. Brodie Kostecki (Erebus Motorsport) +5.069

3. Andre Heimgartner (R&J Batteries) +11.501

4. Broc Feeney (Red Bull Ampol Racing) +18.649

5. Shane van Gisbergen (Red Bull Ampol Racing) +19.116

SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

1. Will Brown (Erebus Motorsport) 1357 pts

2. Brodie Kostecki 1350 pts

3. Broc Feeney 1331 pts

4. Shane van Gisbergen 1285 pts

5. Chaz Moster (Mobil 1 Optus) 1114 pts

-AAP