Andre Heimgartner has finished second in front of his home ground at the ITM Auckland SuperSprint (Race 27) at Pukekohe Park Raceway on Saturday. Will Davison took the win while current Repco Supercars Championship leader, Shane van Gisbergen could only muster fifth.
“To be a Kiwi representing at the top is always good!” commented Heimgartner. “Especially at home in front of a lot of family and friends, it has special meaning for myself.”
Similar to the last Supercars round at Sandown Raceway in Victoria, van Gisbergen struggled in the opening race.
“We changed three tyres in today’s race so we could try and get as close to our starting position and also claim the fastest lap and the bonus points that come with that,” commented van Gisbergen. “We had a crack at the fastest lap because we really struggled to pass.
“My car was struggling with the high-speed areas of the track, and that’s what we’ll be focussing on tonight because we need to be better in those areas. Even though the safety car came out towards the end of the race, it was hard to follow in the high-speed areas and I only managed to pass Anton (de Pasquale) late in the race.
“Unfortunately, in qualifying P7 was all we had. We’ll have a sit down with the engineering group tonight, make some changes and hopefully do better tomorrow.”
Davison, who celebrated his 40th birthday last week, won for the third time this season.
“It was a really special moment, racing here is always big, particularly for the New Zealand drivers every year,” said Davison. “You see over the years, the Murphs, the Scottys, the Shanes and Andre, it was a big moment for him today.
“Knowing it’s the last event here as well, the crowd is amazing and the passion of the fans is insane. It’s a really good feeling to be here and a lot of supporters of our team, it’s an iconic team here. It was very cool, good race and it’s sad we aren’t going to be coming to these sorts of circuits any longer.”
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