QUALIFYING continues to be the chief chink in Brad Jones Racing’s armour, with a solution trialled at Bathurst producing mixed results.
BJR spearhead Andre Heimgartner depicted that tale of two halves, leaving Mount Panorama 14th in the championship after qualifying 17th and 19th for the two races.
Ever since a mid-2023 purple patch in which he secured four front-row starts in a six-race span, Heimgartner and BJR have too often found themselves starting back in the pack.
After Saturday’s struggles over a single lap – later redeemed by charging through to ninth in Race 1 – the #8 crew explored a different path come Sunday morning.
“We felt like we found something in qualifying which was positive,” the Kiwi surmised.
“But the race car really struggled so that was definitely a negative.”
Team boss Jones pointed to Heimgartner not having the same ability to overtake on the Sunday, leaving him 18th at the flag.
There was little to smile about for Macauley Jones nor Jaxon Evans either, but it was at least a better weekend for Bryce Fullwood in the #14 Middy’s Camaro, who took race results of seventh and 12th.
“It’s certainly not the weekend I was looking for,” Jones Sr said of Round 1 as a whole.
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The site of Round 2, Albert Park, was a happy hunting ground for BJR’s Camaros last year with Heimgartner and Fullwood regularly finding themselves in podium contention.
Supercars will support the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix later this month, March 21-24.
