Red Bull Ampol Racing have run a dominant final race of the ITM Taupo Super400 for Will Brown to lead home teammate Broc Feeney for a commanding one-two.
Anton De Pasquale finished third for the second consecutive race to win the coveted Jason Richards Memorial Trophy, with Heimgartner’s late charge to sixth not enough to claim the round.
Brown and Feeney returned to form after a challenging opener in difficult conditions at Taupo International Motorsport Park, and there only real challenge came from each other, highlighted by a multi-lap battle for the lead entering the closing stages.
Brown would eventually pass his teammate for the win, after Feeney had taken the lead off Matt Payne early and controlled the opening half of the race.
De Pasquale ran comfortably in the top three for the majority of proceedings in a strong change of form for DJR, but was never in a position to overturn the 16-second advantage the Red Bull duo had built entering the final stint after the second compulsory pit stop.
Payne was the best Kiwi in fourth, having struggled to match the pace of the lead duo and dropping back early, before finishing three seconds behind De Pasquale at the chequered flag.
James Golding finished a tidy and commendable fifth, having built up enough of an advantage to keep Heimgartner 1.7 seconds behind at the end of proceedings.
Chaz Mostert recovered from a slow start for seventh, while Jack Le Brocq, Cam Waters and Ryan Wood completed the top ten, the latter stopping an extra time and setting the fastest lap.
Richie Stanaway finished 13th, one place ahead of a resurgent Jaxon Evans, who started 21st.
Supercars return with the Perth SuperSprint on May 16-19.
As it happened
Payne got away well and held the inside line into Turn 1, emerging with the lead over Feeney and De Pasquale, who jumped to third ahead of Kostecki, off the line.
The Grove Racing #19 was quick to put distance between himself and the Red Bull Camaro, extending his advantage to 1.6 seconds by the end of Lap 5.
Feeney responded and brought the gap back to a manageable 1-second by Lap 10. Richie Stanaway began working forward after starting 13th, and passed Mostert and Heimgartner in quick succession. Mostert would follow through to pass Saturday’s winner, relegating him to 13th.
Ryan Wood made a steady start, and was ninth, while Jaxon Evans was in a large battle pack in 23rd.
Feeney made a lunge for the lead at Turn 5 on Lap 11, but Payne responded and took it right back at the next corner, with the duo having built a 2.2-second lead over De Pasquale.
Feeney would make the move stick at the same place two circuits later, as De Pasquale emerged on the rear of the pole-sitter, having made good ground while the duo battled.
The Shell V-Power #11 took second off the pole-sitter on Lap 15, leaving him in the grasps of Brown, who had passed his former teammate Kostecki.
Mostert lost six spots off the start but began to charge forward, climbing to eighth by Lap 17, ahead of Waters, Heimgartner, who had climbed back to 10th, and Stanaway.
Wood began losing ground as the race reached quarter distance and made his stop shortly after.
De Pasquale boxed from second as Feeney had etched his margin to nearly three seconds, putting Red Bull one and two, with Payne third and 1.6 seconds in arrear.
The leader responded and came in at the end of Lap 19, and Brown and Payne followed the next circuit.
Once Waters came in for his first stop, the last car to do so, Feeney returned to the lead with a 2.5-second advantage over De Pasquale, with Brown a further 4 seconds behind.
Payne ran fifth, behind Slade, who had made good ground as one of the first to stop. Wood ran 12th, ahead of Heimgartner in 14th and Stanaway, who lost ground after running a long first stint, in 22nd.
Percat was the biggest early mover, climbing from 24th to 10th by Lap 27.
Payne finally worked past Slade for fourth but over five seconds behind Brown at the end of Lap 31.
Brown returned to second at Turn 11 on Lap 32, and began putting a gap over the field as Red Bull ran one-two with a comfortable advantage.
De Pasquale was seven seconds behind on Lap 38, but held a five second buffer over Kostecki as strategy began to fall into place ahead of the second round of stops.
Once completed, Feeney was back in front with a 2.1-second advantage over his teammate, while Wood climbed to third, having stopped earlier. Payne was sixth, Heimgartner 11th, Stanaway 17th and Evans 19th.
Wood returned to pitlane on Lap 46, putting De Pasquale into clear air, but the Red Bull cars were running line-astern some 16 seconds up the road.
Brown and Feeney locked in a fierce battle that lasted a number of laps, the duo making contact several times before Brown took the lead with eight laps to go.
De Pasquale ate into the advantage over the final laps, but it wasn’t enough to overturn the large margin, and he settled for third, 11 seconds behind Feeney, who was 3 seconds in arrears of his teammate.
Payne finished three seconds behind De Pasquale and five ahead of James Golding, while fresh tyres helped Heingartner to sixth at the chequered flag.
