Andre Heimgartner is unfazed by the fact that a win has eluded him so far in 2023, reasoning that it should come soon enough if he remains near the front.
The Brad Jones Racing driver has four podiums in the past six races, more than anyone else in the field in that period, and most likely would have had five – perhaps even the victory – if not for a power steering rack failure which he persevered with on the Saturday night in Sydney.
Only the Erebus Motorsport and Triple Eight Race Engineering drivers have finished on the podium more times than the haul of six for Heimgartner, who also put the #8 R&J Batteries Camaro on pole position for Race 18 at ‘Eastern Creek’.
While he has not stood on the very top step of the dais so far, he says there is no frustration at that.
“Not really,” remarked the New Zealander.
“We’re obviously trying to win, but we’re trying to get that consistency, which is the main thing.
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“It’s sort of eluded us – I’ve had poles and a win before – but, yeah, not too stressed about it; it’ll come.
“If we keep putting the car on front row, the first couple of rows, the win will come eventually.”
This weekend, the Repco Supercars Championship moves on to scene of Heimgartner’s breakthrough race win, The Bend Motorsport Park, where he triumphed with Kelly Grove Racing in 2021.
Speaking ahead of the 2023 race weekend at Tailem Bend, he said, “We come off another strong result in Sydney with a podium and pole. What we’ll look for this weekend is just a little bit more race pace – just eking it out.
“Our qualifying speed is not bad, so that’s good. We’ll look to polish our weaknesses, I guess.”
BJR’s #8/#14 ‘team’ of Heimgartner and Bryce Fullwood remain third in the teams’ championship after the former maintained sixth and the latter climbed two spots to ninth in the drivers’ championship last time out.
Team owner Brad Jones said, “I’m really looking forward to Tailem Bend. It’s a place where we’ve been on the podium before and Andre’s had a race win here.
“Our cars seem to be working exceptionally well on any type of circuit, whether it’s fast and flowing or stop-start, so I can’t wait to get back to South Australia.”
Support categories are on-track today at The Bend, with Supercars Championship practice kicking off tomorrow at 09:45 local time/10:15 AEST.
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