After a venue-best Supercar race finish of 13th yesterday for Andre Heimgartner and co-driver Aaren Russell, today’s Castrol Gold Coast 600 action came to a premature end from fifth on the road for their #3 Plus Fitness Holden Commodore.
Craig Baird received a pit lane penalty after making contact with Russell, spinning him into the wall for heavy damage to the rear on lap 23. While he was able to get the car back underway, the #3 would be forced to pit lane for lengthy repairs.
While the Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport crew worked hard to get the car back on-track and give Heimgartner hope of still being able to undertake some race laps, alignment issues from the incident would soon spell the end of the day for the entry.
“Yesterday was a very solid day for us, even though we started 24th on the grid when I wasn’t able to put together a good qualifying lap due to kerb strike, we were able to run as high as 6th and bring the car home in 13th position,” said Heimgartner.
“With the kerbs sorted and the car feeling good we were hopeful of another strong result today, and we started 21st with Aaren at the wheel.
“He did a great job in the early stages to keep out of trouble and when the first safety car came out, we elected to be one of just three cars who stayed out of the lane in what we felt was a strategy which would deliver for us by race-end.
“However, we never got the chance to see how that would have worked for us – contact from Baird saw Aaren into the wall heavy and despite all our efforts, we just couldn’t finish today.
“I am of course disappointed to have not got any race laps today and to see our day end so early, but we will take the positives from the weekend and look ahead to New Zealand.
“Hopefully as my home round the ITM Auckland SuperSprint will have some better luck in store for me and the #3 Plus Fitness Commodore!”
Heimgartner and the #3 Plus Fitness Holden will next be on-track for the ITM Auckland SuperSprint at Pukekohe Raceway across November 4-6, 2016.
Comments