Heimgartner pinched an early lead when the field pitted under the second Safety Car period of Race 7 of the season and Car #8 was headed for only two laps thereafter.

He staved off big pressure from Chaz Mostert along the way but the Walkinshaw Andretti United driver’s hopes of a podium were dashed when the #25 Mobil 1 Optus Mustang lost a wheel shortly after its second pit stop.

That left the Shell V-Power Racing Team to bag a double podium, with Will Davison second in the #17 Mustang and Anton De Pasquale third in Car #11 after 60 laps around Taupo International Motorsport Park.

Red Bull Ampol Racing’s Will Brown battled to eighth but still extends his championship lead given Red Bull Ampol Racing team-mate Broc Feeney got home in only 21st.

Pole-sitter Cam Waters finished eighth, which must be a bitter pill to swallow given the carnage which unfolded almost as soon as the first race of the ITM Taupo Super400 got underway.

Tim Slade had made a good start from the outside of Row 2 and tried to split the front row of Waters and Brown.

He succeeded only in clattering into Waters’ #6 Monster Energy Mustang, putting both into the wall on drivers’ left, Slade’s #23 Nulon Camaro making particularly heavy contact with the barrier.

Before the Safety Car could be called, Matt Payne (#19 Penrite Mustang) and Feeney (#88 Camaro) spun in separate Turn 1 incidents, forcing Macauley Jones (#96 Wendy’s Camaro) and Richie Stanaway (#26 Penrite Mustang) to the grass to avoid them.

Brown (#87 Camaro) led from Heimgartner, Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Optus Camaro), Cameron Hill (#4 Supaglass Camaro), Davison, Ryan Wood (#2 Mobil 1 Truck Assist Mustang), De Pasquale, Bryce Fullwood (#14 Middy’s Camaro), Jack Le Brocq (#9 TFH Hire Services Camaro), and Thomas Randle (#55 Castrol Mustang).

Brodie Kostecki (#1 TFH Hire Services Camaro) was 11th, with Stanaway 20th, Feeney 21st, Payne 22nd, and Waters 23rd after running repairs.

The race restarted on Lap 5 and Hill pressured Mostert for third but then lost fourth spot to Davison at Turn 4.

A second Safety Car was called on Lap 9 when Fullwood spun at Turn 11 due to contact with Le Brocq and copped a secondary hit which meant he could not get going.

It was unfortunate for Fullwood but worked nicely for BJR team-mate Heimgartner given Car #8 jumped Brown’s #87 when everyone (except for early stopper Nick Percat) filed into the lane for their first compulsory pit stop.

For many others, though, it was a complete mess.

Both Team 18 cars, both Grove Racing cars, and both Erebus Motorsport cars tripped over each other when they had to double stack, while Hill was also heavily delayed exiting the Matt Stone Racing bay, with a post-race investigation into the incident/s.

Under Safety Car, Heimgartner led Brown, Mostert, Davison, De Pasquale, Wood, James Courtney (#7 Snowy River Caravans Mustang), Randle, David Reynolds (#20 Tradie Beer Camaro), and Jaxon Evans (#12 SCT Logistics Camaro) in 10th, then Feeney, Kostecki, and Le Brocq in 11th through 13th.

Hill and Payne were last of those still running after each taking both CPSs under yellows.

The restart came on Lap 13 and Wood passed De Pasquale at Turn 1 while Heimgartner came under heavy pressure from Brown and Mostert until the latter unsettled the #87 Camaro with a touch on Lap 14 and Car #8 escaped.

Courtney and Reynolds were both off at Turn 1 on Lap 15 after the former was drilled by Kostecki, who was hit with a 15-second penalty as a result.

Mostert passed Brown for second on Lap 16 at Turn 4 and so began a slide down the order for the championship leader, who found himself under pressure several laps later from Stanaway in a battle for ninth.

There was also pain for Brown’s Triple Eight Race Engineering team-mate Feeney, who had dropped to 21st by the time he took his second CPS on Lap 21.

Up the front, Mostert was hassling Heimgartner while Davison ran a couple of seconds back in third place, from Wood, De Pasquale, and Randle, the latter of whom was staring at a 15-second time penalty for Lap 1 contact with Feeney, with Evans running seventh and Le Brocq eighth.

Payne looked to be struggling while Brown was reportedly hamstrung by tyre pressures and had slipped to 11th when he pitted a second time on Lap 28, during which a wheel nut strayed into the fast lane.

At half of the scheduled 60-lap distance, it was still Heimgartner leading and Mostert lurking, while Davison was similarly under pressure from Wood in the battle for the final podium place.

De Pasquale pitted on Lap 38 and Wood had lost touch somewhat with Davison when he stopped from fourth on Lap 39.

Having just survived a moment at Turn 1, Heimgartner led Mostert by one second when both came into the lane on Lap 40, followed by Davison, and they exited in the same order.

However, Heimgartner rejoined behind Payne in what marked the completion of the second pit cycle, from Mostert, Davison, Wood, De Pasquale, Brown, Le Brocq, Hill, and Feeney in 10th, with Stanaway 11th and Kostecki 19th after serving his hold.

A lap later, disaster struck Mostert when his right-rear wheel became loose and then fell off altogether, forcing him to crawl back to the pits.

Payne then ceded what had been a two-second lead to Heimgartner on Lap 43 and was into the lane later that lap.

The #8 R&J Batteries Camaro thus enjoyed a four-second advantage over the chasing pack, with Dick Johnson Racing’s Davison and De Pasquale filling the podium places and Wood having dropped to fourth.

Feeney had dropped to 16th by the time he made a third pit stop, on Lap 48, as Heimgartner continued to lead by more than three seconds on a track which was looking ever more treacherous.

Davison halved the lead in the next four laps but the margin then began to stabilise and Heimgartner cruised to a 1.1012s victory in the end.

De Pasquale took third, from Wood, Le Brocq, and Stanaway, who had made a forceful move on Brown for sixth on Lap 55 at Turn 11.

It was James Golding (#31 Nulon Camaro) who finished seventh in the end and Waters salvaged eighth, with Brown ninth and Evans 10th.

Other notables were Payne in 13th, Kostecki in 14th, Feeney in 21st, and Mostert a lap down in 22nd.

The result puts Heimgartner in the box seat to win the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy, in the same #8 BJR entry which his late compatriot once drove.

Qualifying for Race 8 of the season takes place tomorrow morning at 10:45 local time/08:45 AEST.

Results: Race 7, ITM Taupo Super400 Updated

Drivers’ championship Updated

Teams’ championship Updated