Conditions were significantly cooler than during the earlier session, with times almost immediately eclipsing De Pasquale’s Practice 1 benchmark.
Within five minutes Nick Percat became the first driver to break the 1m30s mark, the Brad Jones Racing driver going quickest with a 1m29.631s.
At the 10-minute mark the Red Bull Holdens took over at the top, Jamie Whincup with a 1m29.041s just seconds before being edged by Shane van Gisbergen’s 1m29.449s.
Those times lasted until the frantic final two minutes when much of the field switched to green rubber.
New Dunlops helped Whincup leapfrog his teammate, the #88 moving three-tenths clear of the #97.
But De Pasquale jumped both the Bulls, and comfortably, his final margin over two-tenths.
“They don’t hand out trophies for Friday practice,” said De Pasquale.
“We learnt a lot about the car and what we need to do, but tomorrow it looks like the weather is going to change up a bit, degrees and wind and all the stuff that makes the car handle different.
“It’s going to be tight tomorrow, we know that. But so far, so good. Three months on the bench… to drive a car again is fun, to be fastest is even better.”
Van Gisbergen, meanwhile, was happy enough in third given he felt he didn’t get the best out of his green tyre run.
“Pretty good [day],” said the Kiwi. “I didn’t do the best lap, Jamie is a bit ahead. And Anton is a fair way up the road again. We’ve got work to do, but it’s not too bad.”
Brodie Kostecki capped off a promising day in fourth spot, followed by Nick Percat, Chaz Mostert, Scott Pye, Todd Hazelwood, Will Brown and David Reynolds.
Cam Waters was just 11th quickest, the Tickford spearhead jumping to fifth on his green tyre run at the end before being shuffled back down the order.