Heimgartner hammers down for home victory at Taupo

Andre Heimgartner has won a Supercars race on home soil for the first time in his career, taking victory in an extremely wet opener at the ITM Taupo Super400.

A change in fortunes for Shell V-Power Racing after a difficult opening two rounds saw Will Davison finish second ahead of teammate Anton De Pasquale.

Ryan Wood drove to a highly commendable fourth be, pressuring De Pasquale for the final podium spot until the chequered flag after losing out to him shortly after the second round of stops.

Wood’s Walkinshaw Andretti United teammate Chaz Mostert had presented the biggest challenge to Heimgartner through the early stages but lost a right rear wheel after his second pit stop, which he then hit head-on at the next corner.

Richie Stanaway was the biggest mover in the field, climbing from 23rd to finish 6th, just behind Erebus’s Jack Le Brocq, who was over

James Golding led home a resurgent Cam Waters, who bounced back from a startline incident in which he and Tim Slade went into the inside barriers on contact, dropping him to last.

Red Bull struggled for pace in the conditions, and Will Brown was the best of the team home in ninth. His teammate Broc Feeney was 21st.

Jaxon Evans drove to a commendable tenth in his maiden race at the circuit, making four Kiwis in the top ten.

Matt Payne spun at Turn 1 on Lap 1 and also lost out in a Grove Racing double stack in a congested pit lane but made a recovering drive to 13th.

As it happened

Tim Slade’s race was over before he even made Turn 1. The Nulon Racing entry started strongly from fourth and was looking to split pole-sitter Cam Water and front-row starter Will Brown, but the gap narrowed, and he was sent into a spin, taking Waters into the inside barriers.

Further up at Turn 1, Broc Feeney and Payne spun while Macauley Jones and a fast-starting Stanaway were forced to go around them and over the gravel to avoid contact.

Through it all, Brown emerged at the front, with Heimgartner and Mostert behind, as the Safety Car was called to retrieve Slade’s car. Waters required repair but remained on the lead lap.

Brown led away well off the restart, while Heimgartner also built a small gap over Mostert. Will Davison sat fourth, having started tenth.

David Reynolds was the biggest early mover from the back, having climbed from 21st to 10th by the end of Lap 8.

The second Safety Car was called on Lap 9 when Jack Le Brocq and Bryce Fullwood came together. The latter was left stranded and facing the wrong direction at Turn 11.

The interruption brought a flurry of pit activity, and Heimgartner jumped Brown to take the lead.

A crowded pit lane saw Reynolds stuck trying to exit his box as Stanaway entered his, with Payne behind his teammate as Grove Racing double-stacked, losing both drivers considerable time.

Mostert took the restart third, behind Heimgartner and Brown, with Davison, De Pasquale, Wood, Courtney, Randle, Reynolds and Evans completing the top ten.

Following his early spin, Payne climbed into the top 20 but dropped back to 22nd from the pit delay, behind Waters, while Stanaway was 17th.

Hill and Payne took their second compulsory pit stop under caution, leaving 49 laps for a run to the line.

Wood put a good move on De Pasquale on the Lap 13 restart to take fifth.

Reynolds and Courtney came together on Lap 15, with Kostecki making contact with Courtney’s rear and spinning him into the path of Reynolds. The defending champion received a 15-second penalty for the collision.

Mostert took second from Brown on Lap 16, and Davison began to pressure for the final podium spot behind the championship leader, with Wood on his tail.

Up front, Heimgartner continued to lead but faced increasing pressure from Mostert, while Evans climbed to sit eighth, and Stanaway entered the top ten, having started 21st, by Lap 18.

Payne was also making back good ground and was 16th.

Brown battled with tyre pressure and continued to fall back, which saw Wood climb to fourth and Evans seventh. By Lap 24, the championship leader was ninth, half a second ahead of Stanaway.

Payne was 17th, the lead car of those who had made both stops as the rain cleared, but the track remained extremely wet.

Heimgartner did well to hold off a series of challenges from Mostert as the front four built a gap of over five seconds from fifth-placed De Pasquale.

Payne briefly lost power on Lap 27 and lost several places to fall in behind a battle pack of cars he had sat towards the front of.

By Lap 36, Wood had dropped off the rear of Davison but remained 7 seconds clear of De Pasquale, while Mostert remained within a second of Heimgartner in the lead.

Payne had also made back good ground and climbed to 11th by Lap 40 as those ahead began to make their stops.

All three leaders came in for their stops at the end of Lap 40, and Heimgartner re-emerged ahead of Mostert, who had Davison right behind.

Payne, however, got past all of them to hold a three-second advantage.

Mostert encountered problems shortly after, however. His right rear detached on Lap 42, rolling across the track and in front of his car at the next turn, which he hit head-on.

He returned to the pit lane minus a wheel and dropped to the rear of the field.

Heimgartner, meanwhile, had overtaken his compatriot for the lead, and Payne took another pit stop, elevating Davison to second and De Pasquale, who had passed Wood after he had a moment shortly after the second round of stops, to third.

Heimgartner’s advantage was over four seconds, entering the final 10 laps. Mostert slotted in between Davison and De Pasquale, albeit a lap down, as Wood began to hunt down De Pasquale for the final podium place.

Brown had climbed back to fifth but sat seven seconds behind. Stanaway ran seventh, Evans 10th and Payne 15th.

Worsening conditions brought complaints of aquaplaning from several competitors in the final dash to the flag.

Davison quickly ate into the leader’s advantage, and with seven laps to go, the difference was less than two seconds. In turn, Wood had pulled to within one second of De Pasquale.

The margin steadied at 1.5 seconds before Heimgartner put the hammer down to take a

The Kiwi would go on to take the win by 1.1 seconds from Davison, who had De Pasquale 1.5 seconds in arrears. Wood was fourth, over 17 seconds up the road from fifth-placed Jack Le Brocq.

Stanaway, Golding, Waters, Brown and Evans completed the top ten. Payne was 13th.

Header Image: Neville Bailey