Andre Heimgartner will continue to carry major backing from R&J Batteries throughout the 2023 Supercars Championship season.

The Brad Jones Racing driver will steer the #8 Chevrolet Camaro throughout the year ahead, which begins in Newcastle next month.

It’s the third year the Australian battery brand has supported BJR, and the second with Heimgartner.

“I’m pretty thrilled to have R&J Batteries on board for 2023,” said the New Zealander.

“Having the team there behind me last year was great! It was special being able to represent R&J Batteries on the podium four times last season and I hope we can keep that momentum going into this year.”

Team owner Brad Jones added: “We are heading into our third year of partnership with R&J Batteries and it’s going to be a massive one with not only the introduction of Gen3 and the Chevrolet Camaro but what should hopefully be a great year of racing.

“Gen3 is one of the biggest changes in the Supercars Championship and it’s exciting to have R&J batteries beside us for this shift.”

Heimgartner secured four podium finishes throughout 2022, with three third places and a season’s best of second in the opening encounter at Pukekohe Park.

That left the 27-year-old 10th in the drivers’ standings, the best-placed of BJR’s quartet of entries.

BJR had hoped to be on track at Winton earlier to shakedown its first car after Supercars abandoned its test programme and allowed teams to exceed the usual 60km of running that usually applies to a shakedown.

Matt Stone Racing was the first Gen3 Camaro-shod operation to run a car on track, doing so at Queensland Raceway on Tuesday.

Blanchard Racing Team won the PR battle to be the first of all teams – both Ford and Chevrolet – on track, doing so with its Ford Mustang last Wednesday.

Since then, DJR has been on track but aborted its shakedown on Wednesday in Queensland, while Grove Racing and Tickford have also had cars on track.

Today, Chevrolet homologation team Triple Eight is in action at QR for its maiden outing, revealing a testing livery this morning.