Heimgartner looks forward to becoming senior Kiwi
While aiming to finish this Supercars season with a first win in Adelaide this weekend, Andre Heimgartner is also looking ahead to becoming the senior Kiwi next year.
The 28-year-old has grabbed a pole position and six podium finishes this season but has yet to replicate his solitary win achieved in 2021.
“It’s been a great season for us and I’m looking forward to racing this weekend,” Heimgartner told the Weekend Herald.
“This weekend presents a good opportunity to get that win I haven’t managed so far this season. We had a good result here last year, so I’m confident we can do so again.”
Heimgartner is targeting a top-five finish overall, which would represent a significant step up from his previous best placing of 10th, achieved last season.
Heimgartner is sixth on 1860 points, 226 behind Chaz Mostert and just one ahead of Cam Waters.
“The engine blowing up at Bathurst cost us a lot of points and that was a killer for us,” said Heimgartner of the retirement last month which meant he received no points from one of the two races worth the most points.
Brodie Kostecki leads the standings with 2696 points, 131 ahead of Shane van Gisbergen.
There are two races in Adelaide this weekend, with the winner of each earning 150 points.
This weekend is van Gisbergen’s Supercars swansong. The three-time championship winner and three-time Bathurst 1000 winner is heading to Nascar with Trackhouse Racing.
Heimgartner has battled fellow Kiwis van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin, who between them have won the past five championships. With McLaughlin racing in IndyCar, van Gisbergen’s exit means Heimgartner will the senior New Zealander in the field next year and an opportunity to challenge for the title without having to deal with the two best drivers of the past eight years.
“It’s crazy [being the senior Kiwi driver], isn’t it? It’s cool that he [van Gisbergen] is doing that and now I can finally step out of his and Scotty’s [McLaughlin] shadow. It was amazing the support I got last time we raced in New Zealand and I can’t wait to get back there.”
The Adelaide street circuit is one of the more challenging on the Supercars calendar with its scary monster turn eight. It’s one of those corners where drivers can make gains if they are brave enough, but one that will wreck man and machine if they don’t have the talent to negotiate it.
Heimgartner likes the place and is not shy in taking on the 230km/h corner. There is no room for error with a narrow entry and no run-off on exit. Craig Lowndes dubbed it “probably the wildest corner in Australian motorsport”.
“Adelaide is an interesting track that has a few challenges. There is a big mixture of surfaces and corners, and it’s very technical and tight,” said Heimgartner.
“Then you have turn eight, which is a pretty famous corner, and if you overstep, you can easily ruin the car and your race weekend. There are plenty of white lines, curbs and different cambers that make it an awesome challenge for the drivers.
“We’ve had a big gap since the last race and the engineers have had time to come up with some ideas to make the cars better.
“We’ve lost a bit of the qualifying speed we’ve had in the past and hopefully will have it back for this weekend, as qualifying well is important.”