Heimgartner reflects on his ‘sliding doors’ moment
If it wasn’t for a crash by Ash Walsh when testing at Phillip Island just over a year ago, Andre Heimgartner’s life would be very different.
It was a ‘sliding doors’ moment for the 23-year-old from Auckland as when Walsh had to withdraw from the 2017 Bathurst 1000 during the race weekend because he still wasn’t over his injuries, Heimgartner got the call up and hasn’t looked back. He had been at Bathurst for the weekend to race in the Carrera Cup, one of the support categories, and when Brad Jones went desperately searching for a new driver to partner Tim Slade, he went for Heimgartner who’d had a couple of years in the category, with limited success.
Heimgartner admitted he felt as if his Supercars career was over up to that point, but he made the most of his chance as he and Slade finished ninth at the Great Race and then finished third in Saturday’s race at the Gold Coast soon after.
All of a sudden, Heimgartner had proved himself as a Supercars driver. When Nissan Motorsport were looking for a new driver for this season to replace the retiring Todd Kelly, they went for Heimgartner.
So as Heimgartner prepares for this weekend’s Bathurst 1000, he knows it’s only happening because of that crash Walsh had. It’s worth mentioning that Walsh suffered no long-term injuries and is racing at this year’s race.
‘‘It’s funny how things have happened,’’ Heimgartner said. ‘‘I’d thought Supercars wasn’t for me and I wasn’t pursuing it anymore.
‘‘I was happy doing Porsche and GT stuff, but then I got the call up by Brad Jones and it was cool to do that and then again at the Gold Coast.
‘‘Those couple of races turned my career in a new direction and that’s why I’m here today.’’
This will be Heimgartner’s fifth Bathurst 1000, making his debut as an 18-year-old as a wildcard entrant for the now defunct New Zealand team Super Black Racing.
He admits it was an eye-opener for him to be in such a big race so early in his career.
‘‘It was four years ago, but seems a lot longer than that,’’ he said.
‘‘It was an awesome experience to do that first one and we were on for a good result until they made a mistake with the fuel numbers and we had to pit at the end.
‘‘Everything was so new and I didn’t really know what I was doing. I’m a lot older now, have more experience and know what to expect coming to Bathurst now.
‘‘But up to last year, that was the best result I’d had here, I didn’t finish any of my other races, but luckily I had a good result with Tim here.’’
‘‘It’s been up and down,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ve had really good speed at some rounds, like the last round at Sandown and also Perth and Adelaide.
‘‘But in other rounds we’ve really struggled.
‘‘The middle part of the year for us was a bit of a battle, but we are coming good now.’’