Anton De Pasquale has endured his fair share of heartache this Supercars season, but he’s determined not to suffer any more as he eyes a historic first championship.
The Team 18 star sneaked into the penultimate round of finals in Sandown in Melbourne when he rallied to finish 14th in Sunday's second Gold Coast 500 race.
It came after he was involved in a collision early in the race, compounding his already paltry starting position of 21st.
Regardless, De Pasquale avoided further heartbreak after losing the Bathurst 1000 on the last lap when he ran out of fuel.
It was a welcome relief for De Pasquale and his team, who have sustained heavy criticism as they are General Motors' primary homologation squad but have had an up-and-down season.
“Everyone has their opinion and they're entitled to it, but it's not something that we're too interested in," De Pasquale told AAP.
"No one needs to tell us what we know more than ourselves ... 18 months since I joined the team, it's improved a lot.
"To have really good speed on Friday was the most exciting part of the weekend, and obviously (I) had a really good Saturday."
De Pasquale did take the provisional pole on Friday before finishing fourth in Saturday's 250km race.
But now the Team 18 driver will face his steepest challenge yet as he must win one of the races at Sandown or produce sparkling podium results to qualify for the grand final in Adelaide.
It won't be easy considering he's sitting seventh in the standings, 102 points behind championship leader Matt Payne.
“We just want to give ourselves a chance. We want to beat the next round. We want to be in the fight and hopefully go down swinging," De Pasquale said.
“Sandown was kind to us last year. We were in the contingent for the race win and came second, so hopefully we've got good car speed.
"It (Sandown) suits the traits that we've got happening at the moment."
To paint a picture of the stirring test De Pasquale faces, only four drivers will make the grand final, and Sunday's race winner Broc Feeney declared the Supercars competition one of the "tightest championships in the world".
"If any of the top 10 drivers won the championship, you wouldn't be surprised," Feeney said.
"It's hard to pick who's going to get knocked out or not, but it's going to be a tough one to get through Sandown."
