Andre Heimgartner has made history in New Zealand, winning the first ever Repco Supercars Championship race at the Taupo International Motorsport Park.
The R&J Batteries driver withstood massive pressure from multiple rivals to take the chequered flag at home.
“It’s definitely out there with some of the cool stuff it’s yeah, for me, I spent a lot of time in the area and raced here a lot in the past,” commented Heimgartner. “So, for me to get a win here is really awesome. Heading into this round, much like these boys [DJR] we were going pretty poorly. So, to actually have a good race and get that under our belt was was really, really good. And just means means a lot so almost rather win one of these races than any other one on the calendar for us.
His second win in the category made all the more special by being able to do it in NZ in front of family, friends and his home fans.
Heimgartner started the wet race from third and after a crash between others on the start, which brought out the first Safety Car of the race he was sitting in second.
Middy’s Electrical’s Bryce Fullwood, who was steadily making gains of his own, was involved in the incident that introduced the second Safety Car period.
Fullwood was spun and wasn’t able to restart his car, he DNF’d on the spot on lap 9.
Heimgartner came to pitlane for his first stop, the 8/14 crew put in a stellar effort putting him in front of Chaz Mostert and into the lead.
It was there that he stayed until the second round of stops, though he kept his advantage over Mostert.
However, it became apparent Mostert had an issue, leaving Heimgartner with some breathing space.
It wasn’t long before the Shell V-Power Racing team was up on the back of the #8 Camaro, keeping him honest until the line.
The Kiwi celebrations didn’t stop with Andre, rookie Jaxon Evans finished his first Supercars race on home soil in 10th.
His first top ten in the category, in incredible circumstances for the SCT Logistics driver who had started from 17th.
Macauley Jones aboard the Wendy’s Camaro didn’t fair so well.
Jones had to take evasive action on the first lap and fell down a number of positions, it was difficult for him to get purchase and move forward.
The conditions and amount of traffic on the tight track just made it too difficult to really claw the #96 driver’s race back and he finished in 18th.
Heimgartner now leads the charge for the Jason Richards trophy heading into the second race tomorrow.
Supercars are on track for Qualifying at 10:45 NZST/8:45 AEST.
Race Results
1/ Andre Heimgartner
2/ Will Davison
3/ Anton De Pasquale
4/ Ryan Wood
5/ Jack Le Brocq
6/ Richie Stanaway
7/ James Golding
8/ Cam Waters
9/ Will Brown
10/ Jaxon Evans
11/ Mark Winterbottom
12/ Thomas Randle
13/ Matt Payne
14/ Brodie Kostecki
15/ Aaron Love
16/ David Reynolds
17/ James Courtney
18/ Macauley Jones
19/ Nick Percat
20/ Cameron Hill
21/ Broc Feeney
22/ Chaz Mostert
DNF Bryce Fullwood
DNF Tim Slade
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