Heimgartner scores Bathurst Shootout berth with BJR
Supercars
Andre Heimgartner has stormed into the top ten in Qualifying at the Bathurst 1000.
The R&J Batteries driver made the most of the red flag interrupted session, setting a lap good enough for 7th at the chequered flag.
The 2:05.9268s lap was only a few tenths off pole position and gives him passage to the Top Ten Shootout - a first at Bathurst for the Kiwi.
Meanwhile a red flag caused by a massive incident for Will Davison saw the Dick Johnson Racing driver lose his fastest lap, promoting both Jaxon Evans and Macauley Jones up the order.
Evans in the SCT Logistics Camaro had shown some serious speed in Practice 4, ending it fourth on the time sheets heading into the all-important qualifying session.
The #50 driver wasn’t far off the mark during the session, he was in-touch with the top ten for most of it.
Ultimately he will line up 15th having set a 2:06.2532, with only a slim margin between that lap and the top ten.
Pizza Hut Racing driver Macauley Jones will be just behind him on the grid for the 1000 in 17th.
His 2:06.5656s lap came just before the red flag was called to end the session.
It was a case of unfortunate timing for Bryce Fullwood in the Middy’s Electrical Camaro.
Fullwood aborted his fastest lap, coming in to put on a set of fresh tyres just as the first Red Flag was waved.
On his final run he caught another car coming through McPhillamy Park and was then forced to abort that lap as well.
The #14 Middy’s entry will line up on Sunday in 24th with the knowledge that in 2023 they came through from 21st to finish 7th.
Our main drivers will hand over the wheel to the co-drivers, Declan Fraser (#8 R&J Batteries), Macauley Jones (#96 Pizza Hut), Dean Fiore (#50 SCT Logistics), Jaylyn Robotham (#14 Middy’s Electrical) for the opening practice on Saturday (10:05 AEDT).
Ahead of the Top Ten Shootout at 17:05.
Super2
The Super2 duo made some steps in the right direction overnight and found more pace for today than they had on Thursday.
Cody Gillis is still hunting for more going into the final day of Super2 action at Mount Panorama but was positive after qualifying his #9 Bowser Bean ZB Commodore in 14th to start the race.
The Wollongong-based driver had strong race pace but lost out on a top 10 finish during the final lap of the race coming home in 11th.
On the other side of the garage, Elliott Cleary had limited running during the practice sessions yesterday and was building his confidence in the car during qualifying.
The young gun started the race from 17th and kept it clean, racing the #19 Sync Music ZB Commodore to 14th.
The series has their final day on track tomorrow with Race 2 qualifying at 9:15 AEDT.
Supercars Quoteboard
Andre Heimgartner
Supercars driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
"Awesome result today to get in the ten, big group effort. We didn't start today that amazing and we were sort of tracking the wrong way, but at the start of the qualifier, made some good tunes. And yeah, just really happy with the end outcome. It's great here to be in the Shootouts. It's one of the the things you want when you come to Bathurst- you want to do well in the race but the Shootout is obviously another thing as well. So it give ourselves a good starting position. And yeah just over the moon really."
Declan Fraser
Supercars co-driver, #8 R&J Batteries Camaro
"I didn't do a whole lot today myself. I got five laps in the morning just to baseline some setup changes that we made overnight, which worked out really well. So we're quite happy with where the balance was at coming into qualifying. Qualifying actually took a bit of a turn. We didn't really count for the UV and the track condition changing. So T [Tony Woodward, Race Engineer] did an awesome job to get the setup window back to where we needed it to be by the end of the session. Andre was able to put one mega lap together under pressure to come home in p7. So we've got the Shootout tomorrow. Now I have a lot of laps to do tomorrow, which I'm really excited about. A full session of my myself - a bit of a race run and trying to tune up the race car now and then, Andre will go out and get ready for a big Shootout."
Bryce Fullwood
Supercars driver, #14 Middy's Electrical Camaro
"Really, really tough day here on our garage and our car. We didn't quite get our last run in. We were on a really good lap to put us around the 10/11 or something like that and then got to McPhillamy Park and Stanaway was parked at the apex and I had to run off the track to avoid him. There was no yellow flags or anything and so just destroyed my lap. Now we're at the back. So unfortunate. I feel like every time we come to this place, it's tough for us to qualify. And it's just a little bit of a difficult pill to swallow, because we actually had speed here this time and didn't didn't get to show it. We're starting at the back. So onto racecar prep for tomorrow, and a long day on Sunday."
Jaylyn Robotham
Supercars co-driver, #14 Middy's Electrical Camaro
"Today was a good day. Did a couple laps this morning. It was good to get chance on a better set of tyres than what I was on yesterday. Bryce had qualifying and didn't get a full lap together, unfortunately, with the red flags and all that. We're starting 24th on Sunday. We'll be trying to move forward like we did at Sandown and hopefully the race comes to us and we make some moves forward. So looking forward to it and got another practice tomorrow to get more comfortable in the car."
Macauley Jones
Supercars driver, #96 Pizza Hut Camaro
"A great start to the qualifying session. I was really happy with my first two runs in the car. I felt we were a little bit unlucky not to finish 12th or 14th. So this is good. I slightly tripped over myself in that last run. Because if I had not we would have been 12th to 14th. Donners [Andrew Donnelly, Race Engineer] did an amazing job of turning the car around because it wasn't great in Practice. God speed."
Jordan Boys
Supercars co-driver, #96 Pizza Hut Camaro
“We did some practice pit stops this morning with driver changes, and they felt good. I didn’t do a lot of running today so that we could focus on qualifying for Macca. He did a good job during the quali session and I’m looking forward to the race on Sunday.”
Jaxon Evans
Supercars driver, #50 SCT Logistics Camaro
“Friday in the books. A pretty solid day. I think we're happy with the way it all panned out. We had two practices today. Practice 3 wasn't great. Was tuning a few things, trying to get some more speed out of the car, and unfortunately, I made a mistake and parked it into gravel. I felt like we were making inroads anyway. Practice 4 was more of the same, chipping away at it. It felt like we were a bit more competitive in that session. Pretty speedy on all sets of tyres. But was really happy when we put a set of greens on to jump up to 5th at the end of that. Gave us a good confidence boost going into qualifying. Qualifying is a pretty special session for anyone. Just throwing new tyres at it trying to improve your lap time every time you go out on track here at Mount Panorama. It was pretty cool. Unfortunately, didn't quite retain a similar position to where we were in Practice 4. I think we're not far away from the 10. Pretty happy with the way the car was, just needed a bit of a clearer lap. All in all, I’m pretty happy. Big thanks to the team for tuning it up and listening to my complaints and working with me to get the car in a better spot. We can now focus on our race car and start the big race from 15th.”
Dean Fiore
Supercars co-driver, #50 SCT Logistics Camaro
“Only four laps for me on track today. It was all about quali, so we were just focusing on Jaxon. He did an outstanding job which was really good to watch. I've got a session tomorrow all to myself so we'll work on race runs and pace to get ready for Sunday.”
Super2 Quoteboard
Elliott Cleary
Super2 driver, #19 Sync Music ZB Commodore
“Friday done here at Bathurst. It was a tough start today obviously with very limited practice for me yesterday and having to try and learn it today. That meant qualifying wasn't the best. I kept it clean in the race, moved forward and pace was improved from yesterday. I had a bit of an issue towards the end which happens. We still brought it home made up a few spots I’ll look at everything tonight and have a big crack tomorrow.”
Cody Gillis
Super2 driver, #9 Bowser Bean ZB Commodore
“A little bit better day today. We’ve probably still got a bit to find in quali because we struggled a bit today. We know where we went wrong at least but we just need to sort of put it all together and find a bit more. The race was pretty strong, and our race pace is good. I lost a top 10 finish on the last lap, but it was definitely a better day today and it’ll hopefully be a little bit better tomorrow.”