Heroics from Heimgartner in great comeback on the Gold Coast
Andre Heimgartner has come through from 17th to 6th in an amazing effort from the Kiwi.
After a disastrous qualifying where the R&J Batteries driver made a small error that saw him on a tilt tray back to pitlane.
Heimgartner was left with a job to do in Race 22, and that he did coupled with an incredible strategy call - Heimgartner made up 11 positions over the 85-lap race.
There was carnage on the first lap on the streets of Surfers Paradise that embroiled three of the Brad Jones Racing Camaros.
Brye Fullwood, Macauley Jones and Jaxon Evans all had to come for a tour of pitlane to assess damage under the Safety Car.
Fullwood was hurt the most with damage to his floor meaning that the left door wasn’t able to latch properly during his first proper pit stop.
It put the Middy’s Racing crew in a position that they ran #14 long through the middle stint, only bringing Fullwood in with 10 laps to go for a splash of fuel.
Still an incredible recovery effort from both the damage and the slow stop to finish 18th.
For Evans and Jones they were both caught in a line of traffic and while they had the speed to run well inside the top ten they weren’t able to make the positions on the notoriously tricky to pass circuit.
They had both dropped to near last after the massive pile-up on the first lap so for the SCT Logistics Camaro to finish 15th and the Pizza Hut Racing entry to follow in 16th was an acceptable result for the team.
BJR now looks ahead to the final round of the Supercars Championship, with Heimgartner sitting 10th in the Drivers’ standings, the streets of Adelaide are crucial as there are still spots to play for.
The countdown is on for the Adelaide 500 from 14-17 November.
Supercars Quoteboard
Andre Heimgartner
Supercars driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
“Really solid weekend in the end. I think from when we rolled out the car was pretty speedy and the two qualifyings, we didn't quite get it together. Had a really good strategy and really good race pace. I managed to climb my way back into good positions each time. Over the moon with how it's turned out. I think it’s really what we needed towards the end of the season. A bit of a boost going into next year and onto Adelaide. Really really happy with the crew and how me and Tony [Woodward, Race Engineer] worked together so I feel like we got a bit of a pep back in our step. Looking forward to continuing the momentum going into Adelaide and hopefully push further.”
Bryce Fullwood
Supercars driver, #14 Middy's Electrical Camaro
“We survived that race, only just. Had an issue in the pits which sort of hurt our race. We also got tangled up in the incident at the start. Really tough, character-building weekend for us here. We have a lot of work to do. We’ve got to look through the car properly and try and understand what went on this weekend. Hopefully we can rectify that for Adelaide.”
Macauley Jones
Supercars driver, #96 Pizza Hut Camaro
“Qualifying is not too bad, I wasn't unhappy but there's always room for improvement. The times are very close, and the commitment around this joint is bloody high with the curbs and the lack of sensors. Four wheels and a 1400kg Supercar is pretty dope, but also scary. Definitely more scary than dope at times. Got a good start in the race but got caught up in the drama that was turn 11. I feel like the car wasn't too bad. It probably wasn't quite as nice as yesterday with the track evolution. Just really struggled in traffic in the mid stint and then holding on to that tyre life.”
Jaxon Evans
Supercars driver, #50 SCT Logistics Camaro
“Good day, obviously nice to finish off the weekend with a not bad result in 15th. Qualifying this morning, felt like there was a lot more potential on the cards there, but didn't quite get it right. Started 21st, we're confident that we had a bit better car speed than yesterday. Unfortunately, got caught up in that Lap 1 drama. But the guys made some good calls again from pitlane and put us on a good strategy. They got me some clear air and really happy to come home 15th and move forward another chunk of places. It’s pretty hard to pass around here, so most of that was done on strategy so big thanks to the guys. It's been a tough weekend missing that first Practice but it felt like we recovered pretty well, and got a lot of confidence going to Adelaide for the final race of the season.”