The R&J Batteries Racing driver finally qualified inside the top 10 on Friday at this year’s Great Race, putting the #8 Chevrolet Camaro seventh.
Come 5:05pm AEDT on Saturday, he’ll have Mount Panorama all to himself.
“I’ve achieved a lot of other things but Bathurst for me has been a bit painful, especially qualifying,” Heimgartner said on Fox Sports’ coverage.
“I looked at the results last night. The last 10 years it’s 13th, 14th, 12th, 13th, 16th, 12th, 11th.
“It’s bloody painful, always that little bit behind and that’s more frustrating than if you finished 20th.
“I was a bit off a weekling on the in-lap. I shed a little tear. You just try so hard for so long and to have such disappointment for 10 years in a row, a whole decade of just being short.
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“We had really fast cars. In 2019 I was one of a couple cars to do a three and we were on to be up the top of the shootout and then it rained and it completely stuffed that.
“It’s been hard for me but we got all the boys in my camper and we saged everyone and we’re good to go now. Eyes forward. It’s a bit of Brocky stuff that is.”
Heimgartner has endured a tough 2024 with Brad Jones Racing.
After the squad’s top three finish in the teams’ championship a year ago behind Erebus Motorsport and Triple Eight Race Engineering, the Albury-based outfit has struggled to replicate that form.
Heimgartner sits 11th in the drivers’ championship with one win to his name at his home race while the outfit’s best effort in the teams’ championship has them ninth.
The Kiwi said qualifying at this year’s Bathurst 1000 felt like something of a turning point.
“It’s been something we’ve really worked on. Obviously, most of the year has been pretty painful for us,” said Heimgartner.
“The guys have done a great job and it’s like turning around the Queen Mary sometimes. It’s hard work to figure out what exactly you need to change. It’s definitely heading in the right direction. We were in the shootout at Sandown and in the shootout here again.
“We started the qualifying sessions pretty rough. I think we were 18th and I don’t know how we were going to go forward. We managed to tune it in a direction and have some good logical decisions that got us forward.
“That’s more exciting for us because this whole Gen3 package we started strong but we quickly got confused on how to tune it, what to tune, and everyone just made a jump and we got left behind. It;s really good to have that sense back in how to tune the car.”
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