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The Team 18 star departed Australia on the Tuesday after the Perth Super440 to take part in a GM academy program conducted by Wise Optimization in North Carolina. According to Team 18, “the program assessed several areas of De Pasquale’s performance behind the wheel, combining physical fitness testing and training with simulator work and a range of exercises focused on driver development”. Grove Racing star Matt Payne also underwent testing with Wise Optimization earlier this year amid efforts to propel the Kiwi into a NASCAR drive, which was blocked by Ford. While there are no announced plans to hand De Pasquale a NASCAR opportunity, the Victorian went on to attend the weekend’s race at Richmond. “It has been a really cool trip and a great opportunity to experience the Wise Optimization program and then the NASCAR race in Richmond,” said De Pasquale. “Josh (Wise) and Scott (Speed) have been awesome. “We’ve worked through fitness training, simulator sessions and several different driving exercises, all focused on helping me become a better driver and learning how they approach driver development over here.” De Pasquale’s US trip included touring the GM Technical Centre and several Chevrolet NASCAR team workshops. He watched Saturday night’s NASCR Cup Series race with Trackhouse Racing, which fields Shane van Gisbergen in one of its Camaros. “The GM Technical Centre is an amazing facility,” he said. “The scale of the facility and the technology available to support GM’s racing programs is insane, and it was great to meet some of the people working behind the scenes. “I’m incredibly grateful to everyone at GM and Chevrolet Racing for making the trip possible and giving me this opportunity. “It’s been a really valuable experience, and I’ve learned plenty that I can take back to Australia. “Richmond was a cool way to finish the trip. I caught up with Shane before the race and then watched it unfold in the Trackhouse team pit box. “It has been a busy couple of weeks, but I’m looking forward to getting home and heading straight to Ipswich. “We’ve had a strong run of results recently, so hopefully we can carry that momentum into the weekend.” De Pasquale will arrive back in Australia on Tuesday ahead of the weekend’s Ipswich Super440.