BJR has endured a tough Sunday as action in Perth wraps up
Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner just missed out on a top ten finish in Race 25 at Wanneroo Raceway.
A stronger showing in qualifying over yesterday saw the BJR cars line up higher on the grid but unfortunately the race didn’t go to plan.
The crew will take stock of this weekend in Perth before heading to Queensland Raceway later this month (August 21-23).
Race 25
80 Laps
Andre Heimgartner (#8 R&J Batteries GR Supra), qualified 11th
Cameron Hill (#14 Statewide Bearings GR Supra) qualified 14th
Macauley Jones (#96 JBS Racing GR Supra) qualified 15th
Heimgartner had a relatively clean run during the race but the car never really came to him, and he wasn’t able to move forward from 11th.
Hill came out of his first stop into traffic and wasn’t able to move through those ahead and was buried in the pack for the rest of the race.
Jones was battling radio issues during the race which was also compounded by some debris being
SUPER2
Brad Vaughan and Matt Hillyer have had a steady Sunday in Perth with Brad scoring himself a top 5 finish in the race.
Vaughan (Dare Iced Coffee #80 ZB Commodore) qualified 6th and made up one spot to finish 5th.
Hillyer (Kangan Institute #2 ZB Commodore) started last and made up an exceptional 9 spots in the race to finish 11th.
There’s a break before the next round with Round 5 being at the Bathurst 1000 on October 8-11.
QUOTEBOARD
SUPERCARS
Andre Heimgartner, #8 R&J Batteries Toyota GR Supra
“Solid day, qualified 11th and finished 11th so reasonably happy with that and a solid weekend overall. We moved our problems around a little bit in that last race. They didn't really solve exactly what we're looking for but overall enthused and excited to try and make some progress and have more solid weekends like this one was.”
Cameron Hill, #14 Statewide Bearings RacingToyota GR Supra
“We had the one qualifying session for the long 200 kilometre race, and quali was alright. I felt like the car was pretty good. We were 14th. It was very, very close in terms of the field so weren't that far away from a top 10 shootout berth. And then the race, we just didn't really have the speed that we needed to. So it's probably been a common trend this weekend, not quite having the race pace we need. We will dig into it, see what we can find.”
Macauley Jones, #96 JBS RacingToyota GR Supra
“Qualifying it felt like we made some improvements for today. It's very tight in that group there. Was reasonably happy with it, but just needed half a 10th to sort of be a little bit further up but all in all, I think we did make some progress at that point. Had a bit of Kai Allen's side skirt lodged into a brake duct today which is very frustrating. So, we struggled a lot with braking until we could get that out in the second pit stop. But the damage was sort of done by then and we struggled a little bit with the brakes and the feel of cooking them. So a bit of a tough day. Race pace wasn't nearly as strong as what we would have liked but it was masked from that problem a bit.”
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Brad Vaughan #80 Brad Jones Racing ZB Commodore
“Qualified P6, picked up 1 spot in the race to finish 5th. Aero wash plays a big part and makes it difficult for any further passing. We're still well in the championship hunt, with some of our favourite tracks to come. We’ll be back at Bathurst and be ready to go. Big thanks to all my amazing partners for their support this weekend.”
Matthew Hillyer, #2 Brad Jones Racing ZB Commodore
“Bit of a tough Sunday. Starting off the back row after a terrible qualifying with some cut laps from track limits. Made it up to P11 to finish the race which was nice. So speed was pretty good but overall just pretty bad weekend. But we’ve just got to learn from it and come out swinging and finish up the front in Bathurst.”