Heimgartner charges into top ten in Saturday Gold Coast race
Andre Heimgartner charged through into eighth position in Race 21 of the Supercars Championship for Brad Jones Racing.
After a small mistake in qualifying cost him a lap that was near the front of the grid, Heimgartner started from 12th.
Adopting a similar strategy to those around him, stopping just shy of lap 30 in the 85 lap affair for tyres and fuel, the tidy visit to pit lane left him in a racey position.
The R&J Batteries driver stayed clean for the rest of the race, seeing the chequered flag in 8th.
Macauley Jones meanwhile made his way through from 18th to 14th on the streets of Surfers Paradise.
In the Pizza Hut Racing Camaro, Jones enjoyed a rather uneventful but solid race, happy with how the car felt and ready to tackle tomorrow with more gusto.
Jaxon Evans in the SCT Logistics entry was put on an alternate strategy, stopping earlier than most.
He was able to use that pace and finished 17th, having started from 24th.
Several factors contributed to a less-than-ideal race for Bryce Fullwood, in his second stop there was a delay in getting the left rear off and with a shorter fuel fill, the tyres weren’t covered.
And then within the final few laps Bryce locked up and ran off, letting past Evans and Will Davison.
The Middy’s Electrical car started and finished 20th.
Sunday brings a full reset for the field and there are a lot of positives for the team to take into the second race of the weekend.
The team are on track for Qualifying tomorrow at 10:10am AEST before Race 22 at 14:15.
Supercars Quoteboard
Andre Heimgartner
Supercars driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
“Solid day obviously didn’t maximise qualifying with the red flag and a couple of other things and it was a solid race. I struggled a bit with the car at the start of it with pace but as our fuel came off it felt better which was good. Looking forward to tomorrow and glad that we’re finally starting to get some pace lined up and we’re able to fight in the game and I’m fighting my way back into the 10 in the championship. Hopefully we can have another good tomorrow and fight on into Adelaide which is another round I love so looking forward to it.”
Bryce Fullwood
Supercars driver, #14 Middy's Electrical Camaro
“Another tough day here again for us in the Middy’s car 14. A little bit lost and not really sure what's going on. The car feels good, it's just not going fast. We've got to go right through it with a fine-tooth comb and understand what's going on. Hopefully we can come back tomorrow and do a better job and have a better day.”
Macauley Jones
Supercars driver, #96 Pizza Hut Camaro
“Decent day today. Quali is a tough place here, but the pace is fast with full commitment. I just needed to really nail the lap a little better, but the car had reasonable balance which is always good to have. Race was good with-it running green, which was interesting here. An early warning on kerbs meant there was some hesitation after it, but the car felt good with awesome pit stops from the crew. We’re just chipping away at trying to get some front in the car to help for tomorrow.”
Jaxon Evans
Supercars driver, #50 SCT Logistics Camaro
“Just finished the first Race. Started off as a pretty difficult race as we knew it would be starting at the back of the grid. The guys made some good strategy calls, and we pitted early and felt like we had some reasonable car speed and clear air. We're just chipping away trying to find our groove. The car was a little bit difficult to drive on heavier tanks, but as the fuel came off, it started to lighten up a bit. So, I was quite happy with that. It was just a matter of not making any mistakes, trying to chase down the car in front which I knew had a penalty, and to stay in front of the leader on the lead lap. In the end, 17th was not too bad considering where we started. Obviously looking to qualify better tomorrow and race forward from there. So overall, pretty happy with the day. Big thanks to the crew for doing the hard stuff here in pit lane and putting me out in some clear air.”