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Find your frequency'We f***ed up': Team 18 lament Bathurst 1000 fuel flop
Joanna Guelas, AAP • October 12th, 2026 7:13 am
Anton De Pasquale's Bathurst challenge came to a shuddering halt on the final lap | Photo: Mark Evans/AAP
There's no dancing around Anton De Pasquale's last-lap fuel disaster at the Bathurst 1000.
"We f***ed up," Team 18 team principal Adrian Burgess said.
A distraught Burgess could barely digest the heartbreak at Mount Panorama after a fuel miscalculation cost De Pasquale and Team 18 a maiden Bathurst 1000 victory on Sunday.
It was Brodie Kostecki who took the chequered flag thanks to defending Supercars champion Chaz Mostert, who set up an electrifying finish when he crashed out at Forrest's Elbow with five laps to go.
Triple Eight star Will Brown and co-driver Scott Pyne finished second, followed by Matt Stone Racing rookie Zach Bates in third with Aaron Seton.
The realisation hits home for Adrian Burgess that Anton De Pasquale wouldn't be finishing | Photo: Mark Evans/AAP
Mostert's crash brought out the first safety car of the famously carnage-riddled marathon, but Burgess couldn't even pinpoint exactly when the crew realised they were in trouble.
"We were f***ed already. We knew we were," Burgess said.
It was much the same for a dejected De Pasquale.
While Kostecki sobbed through the team radio after crossing the finish line, De Pasquale sat emotionless as he waited for a tow back to pit lane, having run out of fuel while leading on the last lap.
"Once I knew how much fuel short we were, I knew we were cooked," De Pasquale said.
Anton De Pasquale was left to lament a team error that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory | Photo: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Adding to De Pasquale's heartache was that Team 18 had the time to fuel the No.18 Chevrolet Camaro before Mostert's crash.
When De Pasquale came out of pit lane from his sixth and final stop, he led the field by 15.5 seconds.
"We've had an error somewhere in the fuel calculations. It's pretty clear. There's no point glossing over it," Burgess said.
"We probably had a bigger gap than we thought we had.
"You think, 'Shit, I should've sat in the pit lane for another two seconds' and we wouldn't be having this conversation.
"But that's hindsight and I don't have that crystal ball."
Burgess also wouldn't be drawn on 'what ifs?'
"If it (the safety car) had gone one more lap longer, we probably would've got home," Burgess said.
"But we shouldn't have been in that position in the first place because we had the tools, we had the car, we had the drivers.
"We've had a f**k-up. It's not acceptable ... but this is the mountain.
"Ah, I can't explain it."
