A TRIP to Queensland Raceway set the wheels in motion for an emphatic Brad Jones Racing turnaround.
After a dire Albert Park round produced results of 18th, 14th, 20th and 17th for Andre Heimgartner, the Kiwi turned the tables to today become the first ever Supercars race winner at Taupō Motorsport Park.
That ended a three-year drought for Heimgartner, while it marked BJR’s first triumph since Nick Percat’s pair of victories at Sydney Motorsport Park in 2020.
Heimgartner noted the first step to regaining form had been to diagnose the problem holding BJR’s Camaro quartet back – a braking hindrance.
From there, progress was made via a well-timed rookie test for teammate Jaxon Evans at QR, where Perth-based Heimgartner turned a handful of laps in the #12 SCT Camaro.
“At the end of AGP on the Sunday we really knew what our issue was, which was step one,” he said on the post-race Supercars broadcast at Taupō.
“That’s half the battle sometimes, knowing what it is.
“So we went to a test day with Jaxon Evans at Queensland Raceway because it has big stops and we managed to address our issues and we actually had hard facts behind that.
“So coming off that test day into this weekend, we had some good procedural stuff that I was confident would help, and would help me drive the car how I wanted.
“We’re back to me being able to drive the car a bit more how I want, which is obviously where you get the speed.”
Heimgartner had nevertheless been fearing a poor showing on home soil.
“Heading into this round we weren’t too sure whether we’d in the fight, and as a Kiwi all you want to do is go out there and win and do the burnout in front of the big crowd,” he said.
Heimgartner did just that, celebrating his success with a burnout to the delight of fans who braved the rain.
