Heimgartner fights for sixth in Race 10 at Taupo
Andre Heimgartner has led home the Brad Jones Racing contingent in the third and longest races of the weekend at Taupo.
The Kiwi put in a storming lap in qualifying this morning to earn himself a spot in the Top Ten Shootout.
He started the race out of eighth and launched himself into fifth on the first lap.
The R&J Batteries driver battled his way through the race but stayed relatively clean until the final lap.
Feeney made an attempt to get past the #8 Camaro that unsettled him but Heimgartner kept cool and came across the line in 8th.
Fellow Kiwi Jaxon Evans had a great qualifying and put himself 14th on the grid for his home race.
He also had a stellar start come through to 11th but unfortunately struggled during that first stint and lost a bit of time.
The tyres came back to the SCT Motorsport driver during his second and third stint and and he brought the #12 home in 14th.
Macauley Jones struck drama early in the race, coming up from 16th on the grid he interlocked wheels with Cam Waters which sent him off track.
The Wendy’s Camaro then had to look to recover ground and came back to finish 19th.
Bryce Fullwood’s crew had nailed their race strategy after a difficult qualifying and the Mr Umami Camaro was sitting in 11th when Fullwood had some steering issues.
During his second pit stop the crew had to attending to his steering and he lost vital seconds in pit lane.
Unfortunately Fullwood finished 24th.
With the New Zealand round wrapped up, BJR now looks to prepare for the fourth Supercars round in Tasmania (9-11 May).
SUPERCARS QUOTEBOARD
Andre Heimgartner
Supercars driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
" That started out well, got a good start and capitalising on some action, and was running fourth, but didn't quite have the speed in the first two stints to really stay there or make progress. That was a bit disappointing, but managed to come home fairly strong and hold off Feeney to claim six. Not a bad weekend, two eighths and a sixth so can't complain with that. I think we learned a lot with our setup and different things this weekend, so guess it's exciting going forward with this new direction, and see how we go in Tassie."
Bryce Fullwood
Supercars driver, #14 Mr Umami Racing Camaro
"Today didn't go to plan. Feel like I can't catch a trick at the moment. Got a decent start and the car was actually really good, it was really fast. I felt like we were on for a really good race and unfortunately, had the steering rod unwind on me. Had half a lock of steering right hand down for the rest of race, so was a real shame. I feel like we would have had a good race. But all good on to Tassie, which is happy hunting ground for me so looking forward to it. "
Macauley Jones
Supercars driver, #96 Wendy's Racing Camaro
"That was a pretty chaotic race for us. Had an okay start but once we sort of clipped wheels with (Cam) Waters going into Turn 7, and it just sent me flying and that was sort of just a racing incident, I feel like. But just lost all track position and had some bent stuff in the rear, which made it a little bit difficult to drive, and then lost radio. Because of that we sort of missed our pit window. Made a few good passes in the mid stint, and then lost all of the track position in the last so a little bit frustrating for us. But feel like our race pace is pretty good. There are some positives to take away from the day. Yeah, it's just a part of the game we play. "
Jaxon Evans
Supercars driver, #12 SCT Motorsport Camaro
"Quali was a bit better, we qualified 14th. It's not quite in the top 10 where we wanted to be, but a good improvement from yesterday. Then the race wasn't bad. We struggled a little bit in the middle stint, with tyre degradation and things like that. But in the end, felt like we came home pretty strong. Was nice to have some clear air and sort of work on technique and managing the tyre on my own. In the end, 14 in Race 10 of the championship. Asmall step forward, I guess from where we were last round."