Solid Saturday for BJR at Taupo Super 440

Andre Heimgartner has finished inside the top ten twice in both of the races on Saturday at the Taupo Super 440.

While an extremely tough earlier race saw Brad Jones Racing fighting against time to get the Wendy’s Racing car on the grid 

Race 9

Running long into the 37 lap race for Heimgartner in the R&J Batteries Camaro meant he was able to pick off those on older tyres late in the race.

However a slow start to the second stint cost him a couple of positions

Heimgartner started from 11th and pitted on lap 22, making his way through to 8th at the chequered flag.

His team-mate Bryce Fullwood was earlier to pitlane to take on new SuperSofts after working them hard early on in the race. 

Fullwood felt a drop off later in the race, though he fared much better than others and he claimed 12th.

The Wendy’s Racing crew had to beat the clock fixing an electrical gremlin to get #96 on the grid for the race and though Macauley Jones was facing an unknown he had plenty of pace in Race 9.

Jones also ran a little too long on his first set of tyres but was able to fight for 16th at the end.

Jaxon Evans in the SCT Motorsport Camaro also feels like he missed the window for his stop but was very strong on his second set of tyres and made some in-roads.

Evans finished in 19th.

Race 8

The first race of the day delivered a disappointing result for the team, while qualifying wasn’t ideal an electrical issue on the Wendy’s Camaro caused havoc. 

Jones started the race from 16th, after nine laps the issue suddenly caused the engine to shut down and the Wendy’s Camaro was unable to be restarted.

A Safety Car was called while officials retrieved the car and all manner of chaos broke out in pitlane.

The team opted to double-stack the R&J Batteries Camaro and the Mr Umami entry, meaning that the #14 lost a bit of time.

Which also in-turn hurt Evans, who had to wait for Heimgartner’s stop to com
 

SUPERCARS QUOTEBOARD

Andre Heimgartner
Supercars driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
"Solid race for us. I think the car wasn't too bad. Just struggled to get going after the pit stop. That cost us probably at least one or two spots. Solid overall, I think we made some good gains this weekend with the type of car we're trying to achieve and the things we're trying to do. So it's really positive for the future. I'm just looking forward to tomorrow. Irrespective of where we qualify, I feel like we've got a decent race car and having a longer race too which would be awesome."

Bryce Fullwood
Supercars driver, #14 Mr Umami Racing Camaro
"I felt like qualifying didn't quite go to plan. I thought we're probably a little bit stronger than that. And then in the first race, I kind of just got the wrong bounce on the first lap and ended up sort of at the back of it. Then obviously double stacked in the pits due to Sydney there being a red light on. So we didn't want to do that again, and then no red light this time. So that kind of stuffed us up again. We had half decent speed. We came back to 16th in that race. And then on the SuperSoft tyre, we pitted early, and just tried to hold on and made I think four spots to finish 12th or something like that so decent recovery. I think there's definitely some work to do on our car still, so looking forward to tomorrow. At least I know what I'm in for tomorrow on the on the tyre compound. "

Macauley Jones
Supercars driver, #96 Wendy's Racing Camaro
"Unfortunately, we had a RPM sensor let go - similar to yesterday's issue, but feel like we've resolved that now and hopefully put that behind us. But had a good start to Race 8. So that was a bit disappointing or lose that information that we would have had from that race. But race two wasn't too bad. The SuperSoft tyre is not so super soft, and that was an interesting one to try and manage. We moved forward which is always a positive, but I feel like we have good speed there. Hopefully we can tune her up for tomorrow."

Jaxon Evans
Supercars driver, #12 SCT Motorsport Camaro
"Qualifying was a bit of a tough one. Closed the gap to my teammates, but unfortunately, we were at the wrong end of the field. Then in the second qualifying session on the SuperSoft, just made a mistake and cost myself a semi-decent starting position. So then, race one was a bit of a tough one. It started quite well. Got a nice start. Was sitting comfortably behind Andre and managing tyres and things like that. Then the Safety Car came out and we got caught up in a congested bit lane, so couldn't leave the box, lost a bunch of positions there. Then on the Safety Car restart, was just not really in a position to fight with cars around, at least with the way the car was behaving. Made for some pretty average finishing results, which was a bit of a shame. And then race two, sort of the opposite race start was okay, but unfortunately just got caught up and some other people's accidents. That's what happens when you qualify down the back. Unfortunately missed the pit stop window by a lap or two, and then came home pretty strong and was happy with the car speed. So feel like we've made gains with the car and myself, and driving it, but we'll see if that proves when we are qualify tomorrow. Hoping for a better day and finish our weekend in New Zealand on a high."