Brad Jones has described the Andre Heimgartner/Dale Wood car getting taken out early in the Repco Bathurst 1000 as soul-destroying for the team.
Ahead of the Mount Panorama enduro, Heimgartner stated this year’s race was his strongest chance yet at clinching a victory.
Wood started the #8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore from 12th on the grid, though didn’t make it past Lap 5.
As Zane Goddard rejoined the track after going off at The Chase, he came back on right in the path of Wood, collecting the BJR car and Grove Racing’s Matt Campbell.
Heimgartner, who watched on from the garage, slammed what he thought was people “driving like absolute losers”.
It brought an early end to the duo’s race, with Wood seen in tears on the broadcast in the BJR garage following the incident.
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“We put a lot into it, everyone would have felt the same here,” team owner, Jones, told Speedcafe.com.
“For us to watch a car needlessly get nailed was a very difficult thing.
“All the hard work everyone has put in… I feel for everyone in the team and knowing the hard work they do.
“To get taken out on the [fifth] lap of the race, it is soul-destroying.”
It wasn’t the only incident for a BJR car over the Mount Panorama weekend, with an overnight repair ahead of Saturday on the #96 ZB Commodore of Macauley Jones/Jordan Boys.
Jones was involved in a tangle with Shane van Gisbergen at the top of the Mountain in Friday qualifying.
“It’s a torrid weekend — it’s like running a marathon, you go through the highs and lows,” added Jones.
“This week has been a little difficult in that, we do one session and we’ve got three cars in the top 12 for most of it, then the next one we don’t.
“I felt all our cars qualified out of position, we didn’t quite get it right there and then passing people in the race is difficult.
“It was also a bit of a crazy day, so emotions certainly run like a heartbeat with highs and lows.”
The best-placed BJR car in the race was the #14 ZB Commodore of Bryce Fullwood and Dean Fiore in ninth.
“I felt once we got over the initial shock of the R&J car going out, then Car 14, the Middy’s crew, did an amazing job all day.
“They kept that car just in the [top] 10 and yeah, we’ve got a well-deserved top 10.”
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