Historic moment for Brad Jones Racing as Heimgartner finishes top Toyota in Race 1 of the Supercars Championship
Andre Heimgartner was the fastest GR Toyota Supra in the brand’s debut race in the Supercars Championship.
Qualifying inside the top 10, the Kiwi led the five-car Toyota pack, three of which are run by Brad Jones Racing.
The R&J Batteries GR Supra made a lightning start, gaining two positions on the opening lap to push Heimgartner into eighth place.
A strong pit stop on lap 16, combined with a decisive call to take four tyres, ensured Heimgartner held position for the remainder of the 26-lap race.
Race 1 marked the introduction of the Toyota GR Supra to the Championship, the culmination of a near three-year journey for the brand.
Heimgartner’s result secures his place in the record books as the top-finishing Toyota driver in the model’s debut.
BJR debutant Cameron Hill started the 2026 season opener from 19th on the grid.
Hill is continuing to adapt to the new environment and package, making steady improvements in every session.
In the race, he moved the #14 Dare Racing GR Supra forward to finish a solid 16th.
Meanwhile, Macauley Jones, in the AlphaTheta Racing entry, was still searching for the right balance during qualifying and ultimately started 22nd.
The team elected to run him longer and he unfortunately ran out of time to be able to move forward.
BJR now looks to the second race of the Championship tomorrow night, 7:35pm AEDT.
Super2
It was a productive day for Super2 drivers Brad Vaughan and Matt Hillyer with both drivers making great progress in Practice 2.
Practice 1 was valuable for the duo getting laps under their belt and coming to grips with the car with Brad finishing 11th in the first session and 6th in the second.
Teammate and new Brad Jones Racing driver Matt Hillyer wasn’t far behind in the first session finishing 13th and found more speed in the second session finishing 3rd.
All eyes are now on Race 1 Qualifying tomorrow at 13:50 AEST.
QUOTEBOARD
SUPERCARS
Andre Heimgartner, #8 R&J Batteries Toyota GR Supra
"I think we can be pretty proud of what the whole team did. Obviously, a big, big project to get to this point and so far, reliable cars and fast cars.
"You don't find yourself in the top 10 by accident. You have to have the equipment beneath you. So really, really happy with how the GR Supra has rolled out. I think there's a lot of potential there.
Cameron Hiill, #14 Dare Racing Toyota GR Supra
"First day of competition for us in the GR Supra. We had a gentle start with 19th in qualifying, but I felt like we had a half decent race car, and we moved forward up to 16th.
"So I feel like we're making forward progress as the week goes on. There's a lot to learn about this new car, but the team have been fantastic. There's been lots of little things like the seat. We've been making a lot of adjustments to that to try and make me comfortable, but they've just been smashing it out and did a lovely fast pit stop for me too. So very, very thankful.
Macauley Jones, #96 AlphaTheta Racing Toyota GR Supra
“Obviously today was a massive day for the team. First race for the GR Supras.
We were chasing the balance all day and didn’t really find the sweet spot. So that’s going to be something we look at overnight.
But congratulations to the team, we put three awesome looking race cars on the grid and it was a proud moment for us.”
SUPER2
Brad Vaughan #80 Brad Jones Racing ZB Commodore
“Procedural day at Sydney. Getting back into the groove in the Dare Iced Coffee #80 Brad Jones Racing Holden ZB Commodore supported by Dormer HVAC Services.
Pace looks good early on, so excited to get stuck into it tomorrow.”
Matthew Hillyer, #2 Brad Jones Racing ZB Commodore
“It was a good first day here at Brad Jones Racing for the Super2 program. We had a little bit of a rough start in Practice 1 but we worked through the program trying to get it faster and faster for Practice 2. It was good to move forward and finish third for the day. Good confidence going forward into Quali tomorrow morning.”