The Brad Jones Racing driver was running in sixth place and set to earn enough points to pip Kai Allen to 10th in the standings ahead of the Finals cut-off.
However, as onboard vision from Feeney’s car shows, the charging Red Bull Camaro was all over Heimgartner on the final lap and managed to overhaul the Kiwi into The Chase.
Heimgartner ran through the grass on the exit and crossed the line seventh, one place ahead of Allen on the road but ultimately three points behind in the standings.
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“I guess what could have been,” reflected Heimgartner, who shared the #8 Chevrolet with Declan Fraser and sat fourth with just nine laps to go before fading on older rubber.
“Up to third at one point, just didn’t do tyres in the stop. So, it might be advantage [initially] but ended up costing us in the end.
Secure your spot today.
“Pretty devastated. Cool to be in the mix and I’ve had the chance, but pretty pissed off when you couldn’t execute it.”
Heimgartner wasn’t the only driver to narrowly miss out on the Finals Series.
Fifth place for Matt Stone Racing’s Cam Hill meant the Canberran also ended Bathurst just three points shy of Allen. The joy of the Great Race result, however, made it an easier pill for Hill to swallow.
“A top five for us is an awesome result,” said Hill, who shared the #4 Camaro with Cameron McLeod.
“If you said at the beginning of the week that we’d make the Shootout and finish in the top five we would have been pretty stoked.
“We almost made the Finals, we missed out by three points, so that’s a shame.
“There’s a million things we could point to and say ‘that might have changed our year’, but I’m just so proud of the Matt Stone Racing guys, the Supaglass Camaro was a jet all weekend.
“We tuned it up as the race went on and it was really, really nice in that last stint.”
The Finals Series will take place over the remaining Gold Coast, Sandown and Adelaide events.
Allen joins Broc Feeney, Matt Payne, Will Brown, Cam Waters, Brodie Kostecki, Chaz Mostert, Anton De Pasquale, Thomas Randle and Ryan Wood as the contenders heading to the GC.
Seven drivers will remain in the running at Sandown before a four-way battle takes place at the Adelaide Grand Final.
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