BJR makes gains in Tassie
Brad Jones Racing finishes the weekend off in Tasmania with a top ten and a promising drive by Andre Heimgartner in the earlier Sunday race.
Race 12
Bryce Fullwood led the BJR crew home in Race 12 after an improved qualifying performance which saw him start the race out of 13th spot.
Fullwood had some pace across the 42 lap race and initially moved up a few places off the start and eventually came home tenth.
Heimgartner started just behind team-mate Fullwood but was involved in a tussle with James Courtney in the early stages and was from there in damage control trying to claw his way back into the race.
It was a repeat of the earlier outing, however this time Heimgartner wasn’t able to make the most of his pace and finished 17th.
The second race of the day saw Macauley Jones find a bit more pace and confidence with his Pizza Hut Camaro, after experiencing a tough weekend so far.
Jones claimed 19th in the latter race.
Jack Smith was reasonably content with the performance of the #4 SCT Logistics car, however qualifying hurt him in both races today.
Unfortunately Smith’s qualifying sessions didn’t go to plan and put him further back than what he’d have liked, however he was able to make some positions up during Race 12 to finish 18th.
Race 11
After a chaotic start where Heimgartner copped a hit from Declan Fraser and the latter was penalised for his involvement, the #8 driver fought back valiantly to finish 12th.
Heimgartner was one of the fastest in the field, passing 12 cars on his way to the chequred flag.
Smith was also involved in a Lap 1 melee with one of the DJR cars which scuppered his chances of moving forward, but the #4 SCT Logistics had incredible pace through his first stint before his pit stop but finished 18th.
The Middy’s Electrical car suffered from issues with the steering wheel and dashboard which hampered Fullwood’s race, meaning the #14 driver wasn’t able to capitalise on his qualifying position.
Fullwood managed to still finish 17th, which was remarkable considering the circumstances.
Jones suffered from issues with braking in the #96 Camaro, which cost him dearly in the 42 lap outing.
The Championship now ventures to the north of Australia for the fifth round in Darwin (16-18 June).
What our drivers had to say…
Andre Heimgartner
Supercars Driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
"So interesting day, I made some good gains again, but unfortunately didn't qualify really well. And then I got turned around in the first race and then got pushed off a couple of times in the last race. So not the best day, but we'll see how we can improve and I think we've made some good steps this weekend, which is really positive. So going forward we'll try and tidy up qualifying and the weaknesses we have."
Bryce Fullwood
Supercars Driver, #14 Middy's Electrical Camaro
"A little bit stronger day for us today. Qualified 13th and 14th, which was a lot better from yesterday. I felt like we found some good gains overnight. It's so close here that a very small margin really means a lot. So I was happy with qualifying. The first race was a shame. We had some technical issues that really hindered us from half race onwards, ultimately that lost us a lot of spots. But I think we improved the car for the last race and we moved forward to 10th. So, really happy with that. I think we had some quite good speed in the last race. And hopefully we've got a little bit of direction to keep working on for the rest of the year."
Jack Smith
Supercars Driver, #14 SCT Logistics Camaro
"Qualifying was definitely an issue today. We qualified poorly for both races. In the first race, we ended up getting hit on the opening lap and turned around and had to spend most of the race getting back to the actual race. We had really good speed and managed to pass a few cars and kind of make the most of what we were dealt, which was good. And the second race was a bit different. We were, again, trying to make up spots from a poor quali. We couldn't quite hang on to the rear tyre as well as what we could in the first race so that made it hard to keep consistency up. But overall we moved forward and can't complain too much."
Macauley Jones
Supercars Driver, #96 Pizza Hut Camaro
"We definitely went a better direction for the last race today. I feel like our tyre life was hard to manage in the first race this morning and we definitely made improvements .It was a pretty tough weekend for me, I just really couldn't seem to get the front hooked in. But we'll look at all the data and everything now and put it all together over the next few weeks."