Restored and Updated iPad keeps asking for the “Passcode for this iPad”

Trying to give my old iPad to a friend. Erased it and ran Restore and Update while connected to iTunes but - when trying to reconfigure it - it keeps asking for the previous passcode for this iPad. The old passcode doesn’t work.

Have restored it 3 times now and cannot get past the old passcode request.

I thought restoring it erased the old passcode and allowed the new owner to reconfigure it.

Any suggestions out there?