Win tops Kiwi highlights
Heimgartner’s victory led the way but all five locals had their moments in Taupō
The Kiwi drivers could not pull off a winning Supercars double at the inaugural Taupō round last weekend but there were plenty of positives from a New Zealand perspective.
Andre Heimgartner won the Saturday race — just the second of his career — and Matt Payne started from pole yesterday before leading title contenders Will Brown and Broc Feeney took charge to clinch a Red Bull Racing quinella.
A sell-out crowd of 67,411 across the three days was testament to the popularity of the tin-top category, especially now there are five Kiwis in the field.
Despite Heimgartner missing out by just one place on the Jason Richards Trophy won by Anton De Pasquale, the Kiwis in the field had a great weekend.
On top of Heimgartner’s win, an added positive was Richie Stanaway providing further proof he belongs in the main game.
He has consistently scored points and has stealthily moved up to fourth in the championship.
Stanaway produced a phenomenal drive on Saturday to improve 17 places from second-to-last to sixth.
Youngster and rookie Ryan Wood continues to show incredible pace (fourth in race one) and looks set to threaten for a podium in the near future.
A career-best result for rookie Jaxon Evans (10th) has showed the young crop of Kiwi racers are poised to take it to the Aussies over the rest of the season.
The wet weather played a part in Heimgartner’s win by levelling the playing field on Saturday. However, yesterday’s race saw a return to the status quo, with the Red Bull Racing duo of Brown and Feeney finishing first and second.
“It was awesome racing between me and Broc and I hope everyone watching enjoyed it,” said Brown.
“I was buggered at the end of it and was just pleased to get past him. A mega day and I had a lot of fun fighting with Broc.
“I might have touched him once but tried not to too much. I was so much faster than him mid-corner and it was one of my best races of my life.
“I didn’t want to bump him and put both of us off, so had to concentrate really hard. I’m so pleased we came back to New Zealand and hope we get two rounds here at some stage.”
Unlike Saturday’s rain-soaked race of carnage and chaos, the second stanza of the Supercars’ return to New Zealand at Taupō was a much more measured affair.
Payne demonstrated his ability during qualifying and the top 10 shootout yesterday morning by outclassing the field to start the race from pole.
He held off the chasing trio of Feeney, De Pasquale and Brown during the first 15 laps but had to eventually settle for fourth.
The 200km race settled into a catand-mouse rhythm, and by half-race distance after the first round of pitstops, the order was Feeney, De Pasquale and Brown, with bestplaced Kiwi Payne in fifth and Saturday’s race winner Heimgartner 14th.
Nothing much changed in the later stages of the race, with Brown and Feeney holding a comfortable 14-second lead over De Pasquale and Payne.
Heimgartner came home sixth, just missing out on the Jason Richards Trophy for the round win, which went to De Pasquale. Fellow Kiwis Stanaway, Wood and Evans finished 11th, 13th and 14th respectively.
Jason Richards was a Kiwi Supercars competitor who died of cancer aged just 35 in 2011. The trophy which carries his name is extremely sought after by the New Zealand drivers, with Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin among the previous recipients.
“We didn’t have the best day and it was pretty tough,” said Payne. “We probably didn’t quite have the car [yesterday] and struggled with tyres.
“We’re a work in progress and we’ll get there. It’s positive we had the speed in qualifying and were able to put ourselves in a good place to start a race — tough day but good points.”
Heimgartner made the most of his BJR car’s ability in the wet to win the second Supercars race of his career on Saturday. The Kiwi led for 49 of the 60 laps despite heavy pressure from Chaz Mostert.
Heimgartner’s get-out-of-jail card came during Mostert’s second pit stop when his right rear wheel parted company with the car, necessitating another pit stop to rectify the problem.
“It wasn’t cruisy by any stretch. I think Chaz was probably outright faster than me, but I had a lot better drive, which meant I could just keep him behind me,” said Heimgartner.
“So I just had to not make any mistakes and then obviously his wheel fell off and then that released me a bit.”
His fellow New Zealanders Wood crossed the line fourth, Stanaway sixth, Evans 10th, and Payne 13th.
Brown leads the championship on 809 points from Feeney (738), Mostert (613), with the best of the Kiwis Stanaway fourth on 526 points and Payne fifth on 519.