Andre Heimgartner says he has been humbled by the outpouring of support this week in the lead-up to and during the ITM Auckland SuperSprint at Pukekohe Raceway.
While this weekend’s racing for the 21 year old Auckland-native might not have gone his way in the #3 Plus Fitness Racing Holden, the Melbourne resident says he still has positives to take away from the weekend.
“Since I got here on Sunday night I have been busy getting around the city meeting the fans, chatting to media and keeping busy with plenty of pre-event activities,” Heimgartner said.
“That has only continued since the at-track festivities kicked off, and I have to say I have just been blown away by the support of the fans both before and during the event, and also the media. It has been very humbling.
“To have that support has been very uplifting and I am devastated that we couldn’t deliver a better result for them all this weekend, but unfortunately, sometimes that is how racing goes.”
When it came to the racing, Heimgartner struggled with set-up early, finding the car very unstable and with little drive out of the corners – he would finish race one on Saturday in 22nd position. A switch in set-up before the second race on Saturday saw him pleased with the driveability of the car (P22), and hopes were high that Sunday would deliver better results. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t exactly go that way – despite being able to advance a number of spots in the first Sunday race (P22), the second race would see him taken out of the action early.
“At Pukekohe when you are having these short 35 lap races with no tyre changes or refuelling, qualifying really is key – where you qualify has a very big bearing on where you will finish the race,” explained Heimgartner.
“This is our first time working with this car at this venue and it is the same for my engineer Campbell Little, as has been the case at all the rounds we have gone to this year, and that means that we need to chase the set-up early.
“We struggled a bit with that this weekend, but after the first race I was feeling a lot better in the second race yesterday, and I was hopeful that I would be able to advance up the qualifying order on Sunday a bit so we could make a better go of it on Sunday.
“That didn’t go to plan, but in the first race we were able to advance to finish four spots higher than our starting position which wasn’t too bad, and then in race two I had a good start – passing four cars in the opening laps.
“However, when Nick (Percat) got spun, the field all bunched up and I got clouted from behind. This caused rear suspension damage that we just couldn’t repair in the time left in the race.
“It certainly is disappointing, I was really hoping to put on a good show for the fans here in thanks for all of their support, but this sport can be a cruel mistress! Even so, we will regather and push forward for what will hopefully be some solid results at Sydney Olympic Park in the first week of December.”
Andre Heimgartner and the #3 Plus Fitness Racing/Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Holden will next be on-track for the final round of the 2016 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship across December 4-6. The event will be held at Sydney Olympic Park.
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