Plus Fitness Racing driver Andre Heimgartner has put a full stop on a somewhat bumpy BetEasy Darwin Triple Crown campaign with a strong P11 finish in the NT this afternoon.
Despite car setup issues, some on-track bump and grind, soaring temperatures and fading tyres, the 24 year old showed plenty of promise across the event, including a P9 qualifying position on Saturday and plenty of race time in the top ten.
“We tried a new car setup for this weekend and on Friday it was pretty clear that we had a fair way to go until we had our heads around it fully,” Heimgartner explains.
“Saturday brought more positive results with a P6 in the final practice session and a qualifying position of 9th in that afternoon’s race.
“While we had some good car speed for the 42 lap race on Saturday, we had some bumps too – contact with Winterbottom on the opening lap did us no favours and then after climbing back up to P7 amid the sweltering conditions I was hit with a 15-second time penalty for a mistake of weaving after the safety car lights had gone out.
“While I was quite frustrated with Saturday, we put it behind us and came back out for a fresh new day on Sunday. We made two spots in the first lap and ran inside the top ten for parts of the 70 lap race after starting 14th, eventually bringing it home P11 despite fading tyres in the final laps.
“It was a strong finish to a bumpy weekend, and from here it is eyes forward to Townsville, another event I always look forward to! Here is hoping we can really stitch it all together for a great result in sunny Queensland.”
Race 16 Results
Pos Driver Laps/Diff
1 Scott McLaughlin 70 Laps
2 David Reynolds +13.8319
3 Fabian Coulthard +14.8754
4 Cameron Waters +21.1617
5 Jamie Whincup +21.9110
6 Chaz Mostert +22.3242
7 ee Holdsworth +22.9110
8 Anton De Pasquale +27.6387
9 Will Davison +29.3597
10 Shane van Gisbergen +31.9868
11 Andre Heimgartner +35.7351
12 Mark Winterbottom +36.4050
13 Todd Hazelwood +46.8917
14 James Courtney +46.9234
15 Nick Percat +55.3366
16 Rick Kelly +57.2348
17 James Golding +1 lap
18 Tim Slade +1 lap
19 Scott Pye +1 lap
20 Simona de Silvestro +1 lap
21 Jack Le Brocq +1 lap
22 Macauley Jones +1 lap
23 Chris Pither +1 lap
24 Garry Jacobson +1 lap
25 Jack Smith +1 lap
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