By Josh Nevett
Date posted: May 23, 2022
Andre Heimgartner did not expect to have two podiums to his name just five rounds into his time at Brad Jones Racing, but now he is looking to turn those results into consistent top 10s.
Heimgartner crossed over to BJR this year from the team formerly known as Kelly Grove Racing, bringing with him plenty of optimism after scoring a maiden race victory in 2021.
After a difficult start to life at the four-car team, the Kiwi has made things click at Perth and Winton, stringing together six consecutive top 10 finishes including two third place results.
The results have come as a surprise for Heimgartner, who now sits 12th in the Supercars Championship standings.
“I guess I didn’t expect it (when I arrived at BJR), but I thought there were all the tools there to do well,” he said on Sunday night.
“When I first walked in the front door, I was very surprised at how good the engineering crew was, the depth of knowledge and understanding they had.
“We came here this weekend not really thinking we had a very strong base car and it didn’t roll out very well, so we had to tune the car a lot. Every time we tuned it luckily, we went the right way, it just got better and better.
“We’re starting to understand what we need on a race car and qualifying car.”
Determined to prove that his form is not a flash in the pan, Heimgartner made it clear that more of the same will be the aim at upcoming events.
Hesitant to put numbers to his targets, the 26-year-old is more interested in maintaining the harmony he has with his crew and the #8 BJR Holden Commodore.
“I think you can only keep trying to get better and better,” Heimgartner explained.
“It’s not so much of a position thing more so a result of the car speed and the feeling amongst the team and getting the setup done.
“Hopefully we can continue being in the top 10 and get that consistency.
“Consistency is what we’ve lacked, it’s so hard to be consistent. We’re trying to be consistently in the game up the front.”
The next stop on the Supercars calendar is Hidden Valley Raceway, the Darwin Triple Crown slated from June 18-19.
Beyond that the Townsville 500 awaits in early July, an event that Heimgartner is targeting with confidence.
“I think we’re going to some tracks that suit our cars historically better,” he concluded.
“Winton wasn’t one of those, Perth wasn’t really one of those either, so to get the car how we have it now, we’re excited going to Townsville where the cars are pretty speedy.”
For more of the latest motorsport news pick up the current issue of Auto Action.
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