Winton SuperSprint
Andre Heimgartner recorded his second podium finish in as many rounds at Winton, finishing third in Race 15 for the Albury-based team’s “home” round.
Team Owner Brad Jones has said he feels the team isn’t far away from making the R&J Batteries Racing driver a top 10 contender for the Supercars Championship following the result.
“I felt that was very, very well executed,” Jones said of the Winton strategy.
“I feel like we’ve had quite significant changes in the organisation over the summer and with that I always felt we would have highs and lows, maybe not to massive extremes, but certainly more than we’re used to, and that has been the case, but I feel like this is the second race meeting where we’re running in a position and we’re pretty consistent and we’re able to move forward.
“If we can keep doing that, then Andre’s not far from being in the top 10 of the championship, which is our target and go forward from there. It’s just him learning us, us learning him, building a relationship between he and Tony [Woodward, race engineer] and the team.”
The circuit has traditionally been a strong one for BJR in the past but the team went into the round with realistic expectations.
“We were pretty speedy coming out of the box and tuned the car up from [Saturday to Sunday] and just got stronger and stronger. Solid.”
Of Heimgartner’s Race 15 success, Jones said he felt they couldn’t match leading duo Cameron Waters and Shane van Gisbergen, but were happy nevertheless.
“This one was really solid,” said Jones.
“He had great pace, qualified well, and converted. I didn’t feel we were quite where the two in front were, but our real race was with [David] Reynolds and the boys executed perfectly.
“The pit stop was a cracker, to beat Shane out was great. They just deliver time, and time, and time again. That was great.
“The race really ran to plan. It makes a big difference when you qualify up the front around those guys.”
Heimgartner also recorded his best qualifying result to date with BJR on Sunday, starting third for the final 36-lap sprint.
The #8 R&J Batteries Commodore driver has shown improved form throughout the 2022 season.
Heimgartner said the result was welcome, based purely on car speed.
"It's just a credit to the guys, we have turned it around from the start of the weekend.
"I’m over the moon, I think it's just the consistency that we need. I’m looking forward to the rest of the year, and slowly chipping away, and seems like we have found something good."
It was a mixed bag of results for Heimgartner’s BJR teammates, made more challenging with grid position putting them in the midst of some on track dramas.
The Middy’s Racing #14 car of Bryce Fullwood showed flashes of good car speed, but finding a good balance between Qualifying and Race set up was challenging.
“We need to get up there a little higher on the grid in qualifying so we can try to avoid some of the on track incidents that come with being a bit further down the field during the race,” Bryce said.
“The Knockout Qualifying on Saturday for Race 13 we got through the first part and put the car into 18th. Unfortunately on the Sunday for Race 14 and 15 we struggled for pace and were back down in 24th for both races.
“Saturday’s Race I was running 18th behind Ojeda and ran off the road when Slade rejoined from pit lane, unfortunately dropping to finish the race in 20th.
“The first race on Sunday I charged from 24th on the grid up to 17th and was looking good with three fresh tyres late in the race but I attempted a pass on Hazlewood which forced me off the track, so I crossed the line in 21st.
“So it was a matter of a couple of little errors in the races or we could have been a bit further up across the line. This is a positive we can take into Darwin though! Little mistakes are easy fixed and if there’s one track I love racing around it is Darwin! Bring it ON!”
Macauley Jones in the DrillPro Racing #96 car showed good pace in Race 13, but got stuck behind Percat for P15. In Race 14 he struggled with balance but an early tyre stop brought him home in 19th. In Race 15 his strategy saw him take four tyres, re-joining at the back of the field to work his way back up to finish 19th.
SCT Logistics Racing’s Jack Smith struggled with understeer but still made up four places to finish P22 in Race 14. Contact early in Race 15 left him having to fight back for P23. Then in the final race of the weekend, contact on lap one resulted in a forced early pit stop to repair a badly buckled bonnet.
