Heimgartner seals thrilling win in first Taupo race
Andre Heimgartner has made history in New Zealand, winning the first ever Supercars race at the Taupo International Motorsport Park.
The R&J Batteries driver withstood massive pressure from multiple rivals to take the chequered flag at home.
His second win in the category made all the more special by being able to do it in NZ in front of family, friends and his home fans.
Heimgartner started the wet race from third and after a crash between others on the start, which brought out the first Safety Car of the race he was sitting in second.
Middy’s Electrical’s Bryce Fullwood, who was steadily making gains of his own, was involved in the incident that introduced the second Safety Car period.
Fullwood was spun and wasn’t able to restart his car, he DNF’d on the spot on lap 9.
Heimgartner came to pitlane for his first stop, the 8/14 crew put in a stellar effort putting him in front of Chaz Mostert and into the lead.
It was there that he stayed until the second round of stops, though he kept his advantage over Mostert.
However, it became apparent Mostert had an issue, leaving Heimgartner with some breathing space.
It wasn’t long before the Shell V-Power Racing team was up on the back of the #8 Camaro, keeping him honest until the line.
The Kiwi celebrations didn’t stop with Andre, rookie Jaxon Evans finished his first Supercars race on home soil in 10th.
His first top ten in the category, in incredible circumstances for the SCT Logistics driver who had started from 17th.
Macauley Jones aboard the Wendy’s Camaro didn’t fair so well.
Jones had to take evasive action on the first lap and fell down a number of positions, it was difficult for him to get purchase and move forward.
The conditions and amount of traffic on the tight track just made it too difficult to really claw the #96 driver’s race back and he finished in 18th.
Heimgartner now leads the charge for the Jason Richards trophy heading into the second race tomorrow.
Supercars are on track for Qualifying at 10:45 NZST/8:45 AEST.
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Andre Heimgartner
Supercars driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
"It's definitely out there with some of the cool stuff it's yeah, for me, I spent a lot of time in the area and raced here a lot in the past. So for me to get a win here is really awesome. Heading into this round, much like these boys [DJR] we were going pretty poorly. So to actually have a good race and get that under our belt was was really, really good. And just means means a lot so almost rather win one of these races than any other one on the calendar for us.
"Yeah, I think firstly, just enjoy today. First win for BJR for a long time and a longtime since I won last. So just enjoy today and then see what tomorrow does. Our car has been pretty solid in all conditions. So we'll just see what happens but I think the car number 8 thing is very special and it doesn't go unnoticed when we come to New Zealand. You know, there's extra emotion attached to it. And,when we raced at Pukekohe we finished third for the JR cup, I think it was so close and then yeah, really love to get it done this weekend, but there's a long way to go tomorrow."
Bryce Fullwood
Supercars driver, #14 Middy's Electrical Camaro
“We found some pace in qualifying, the car felt quite good and we were confident that we could get a result today. It just wasn’t to be. Not how we wanted to end the day, we didn’t get to do a lot of racing. But now we look to tomorrow and hope it goes a bit better.”
Macauley Jones
Supercars driver, #96 Wendy's Camaro
"Qualifying wasn't too bad. It's pretty dicey conditions which was kind of fun. But yeah battled a bit in the race. From the get go we sort of got stuck at turn 1 had to go to the outside and lost a load of track position there. Pretty speedy at times. It's hard in traffic when you were at the back - the spray was ridiculous at the start so that was hard to manage, but the car felt pretty good and then the last stint really dropped off in speed for the last set of tyres. So I feel like I kind of cooked that and really battled with that. Cool for Andre to get a win. Nice to be back in New Zealand. Except it's wet."
Jaxon Evans
Supercars driver, #12 SCT Logistics Camaro
"Qualifying was a little bit frustrating. Considering the speed we had yesterday, it was a bit awkward leading into the session not knowing if it's gonna be dry or wet. And it was dry but pretty slippery. Just didn't really maximize everything myself. Felt like the car was good. So starting from P17. We knew it was going to be a long race, whether it was wet or dry. And it was wet, very wet. So it was pretty wild, but I had a lot of fun. Discovering what it's like to drive one of these cars in a wet race and the team did a great job with stops and found ourselves in P10. So pretty happy to move forward and finish inside the top 10 for the first time in Supercars land. And hopefully it's a step forward and then tomorrow we can qualify a little bit further up and race further forward again. So I think overall pretty good day. Awesome to see Andre get the win, not only for the team, but because he's a kiwi. "