The Kiwi was facing a career crossroads in 2017 when he was forced back to Carrera Cup after his Supercars chances ran dry after two seasons.
As has been well-publicised he contemplated walking away from the sport, only for an unexpected enduro drive as an injury sub for Brad Jones Racing sparked a career revival.
A starring drive on the Gold Coast ultimately led to a seat with Kelly Racing for 2018, however it wasn’t just his efforts on the streets of Surfers Paradise that sealed the deal.
Instead it was a secret job interview, of sorts, with Todd Kelly that inadvertently put him on the radar for the drive – particularly after another high-profile candidate decided to move overseas.
“I don’t like talking myself up or telling people how good I am because I’m not that kind of person,” Heimgartner told The Hard Card with Authentic Collectables.
“But I was with [Super2/Super3 team owner] Matt White and Matt thought he had a sponsor to run me in DVS in a Nissan. So we went and met with Todd Kelly, because that was part of the whole programme.
“I was in that room with Todd and it was just one of those things, I guess – the right timing, I said the right things, Todd was feeling nice or feeling whatever.
“He was obviously thinking of retiring at the time and he wanted someone to replace him. I was sitting in that room and we were talking back and forth.
“He said something along the lines of, ‘why do you think you should get that [Super2] drive? What’s the aspirations for the future?’ and stuff like that.
“I’d come very close to winning the Carrera Cup championship, I was probably the fastest, give or take, in that. I said, ‘well I’ve proven I can beat everyone in the Carrera Cup championship, so I want to do the same here and prove I can beat everyone in DVS so that teams don’t have any reason not to pick me up’.
“I guess for him, he saw that Gold Coast drive and he saw something potentially a bit special there, and saw how motivated I was and he knew how hard I worked outside on the car fitness and different things.
“He was looking to retire but he wanted wanted to pick the right person. He tried to get Matt Campbell for a bit but he went overseas.
“And then I guess I just lined up with him and he decided he wanted to retire and then it was on from there. So I owe a lot to Todd and his family. They were great to me over the years.”
Heimgartner drove for the Kellys from 2018 to 2021, taking his first Supercars win in that final season with the team before moving to Brad Jones Racing.
That move coincided with the transition from Kelly Grove Racing to Grove Racing.
“I was extremely loyal to Todd,” added Heimgartner. “Like, I’d probably still be there now if [the Kellys] were still involved.”
For more with Andre Heimgartner watch the full episode of The Hard Card above or listen via the podcast links below.
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