Heimgartner grabs top ten result to cap off Taupo weekend
Andre Heimgartner’s late race charge saw the Kiwi rise from the outer ranks of the top ten to sixth for Brad Jones Racing.
The R&J Batteries driver started from 11th and had his eyes on the Jason Richards Trophy, Heimgartner came within touching distance but fell just short at the end of Race 8.
He did come through two cars to get to sixth at the flag.
Fellow-Kiwi and team-mate Jaxon Evans had another great run, pulling himself from 21st on the grid to 14th.
The SCT Logistics Camaro was in a scrap in the early stages of the race which saw him fall to second last, but Evans was able to keep a steady head and nab another excellent result on home soil.
Bryce Fullwood endured a tough race, starting from 22nd he had a bit of work ahead of him.
It was a difficult race and unfortunately strategy didn’t work out for the Middy’s Electrical driver.
Macauley Jones delaminated a tyre early in his race which had a knock-on effect for the rest of the 60-lap event.
The Wendy’s driver finished in 20th.
Overall the team are encouraged by the result after two tough rounds to start the year, Andre finishing second for the round bolsters confidence.
BJR heads to Perth now for the fourth round of the Supercars Championship (May 17-19).
Quoteboard
Andre Heimgartner
Supercars driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
"Wrapped up a really good weekend here in New Zealand. I think we just quite didn't have enough positions and points in that last one to get the JR Trophy but we gave it a red hot crack.. it's just mental for all the guys the turnaround. It's been an amazing round I think getting my first win with team and another one for me has definitely been the highlight and at home too. It's been something special. Something I'll hold close to my heart, this weekend and look forward to progressing further forward. In the championship, we're sort of back in position and we'll just go from there."
Bryce Fullwood
Supercars driver, #14 Middy's Electrical Camaro
"Finished up here in Taupo, wasn't really the best weekend for us with car 14. But you know really, really good weekend for car 8 which was really exciting to get the win yesterday for them. Obviously that means a lot here you know in regards to the JR trophy and stuff for that really cool. This weekend I feel like we zigged instead of zagged and I feel like the car actually has quite a lot of potential in it. We got a bit unlucky in the first race yesterday and I feel like the car was really strong and then today we missed the window in qualifying and the car was really hard to drive and that put us way back. Then I feel like the car was quite fast in the race but just unfortunately wrong strategy and obviously the track is super hard to pass on and just made for a really, really tough day. So it's disappointing because I feel like the car actually is pretty speedy but anyway, onwards and upwards and looking forward to Perth."
Macauley Jones
Supercars driver, #96 Wendy's Camaro
"I felt like I struggled in the first stint in traffic just couldn't really attack the corner like I wanted to. I felt like when we were in clear air, the speed was reasonable and holds on to its tyre pretty well which was a plus. Had some good battles out there but yeah, ultimately just struggling for the peak speed to be honest."
Jaxon Evans
Supercars driver, #12 SCT Logistics Camaro
"A little bit disappointed after qualifying,the margin's very tight here but a bit too many mistakes on my side. It cost us probably a decent starting position. So from P21 had a really strong race. I think I looked after the tyres pretty well and the team made some good strategy calls and fast pitstops, ended up 14 at the flag. Really happy to move forward quite a lot in the race and had a lot of fun out there trying to overtake cars and things like that. So I think it's a good building platform once again, and just really happy to have a more positive weekend here in Taupo and awesome to have family and friends and the Kiwi fans supporting us."