Heimgartner tops first official Gen3 test-sheet
By Timothy Neal
Date posted: 22 February 2023
Andre Heimgartner has taken first blood in the 2023 Supercars Gen3 timesheets, topping the first official preseason test session at SMP.
All 25 Gen3 Mustang’s and Camaro’s took to the track together for the first time in what started out as a misty and rainy session at 8:30am this morning.
Teams started out hesitantly on the wets as the cars slowly emerged in small groups, with Will Davison topping the early times on the wets before Shane van Gisbergen was around the 1:41s mark.
Click Here to hear Listen to Brad Jones explianing the Gen3 wet weather tyre from the BJR garage during the first session at SMP.
BJR’s Andre Heimgartner has topped the first Supercars Gen3 preseason test
Heimgartner then went top for most of the back half of the session as teams could switch to slicks as the times started dropping, with the #8 BJR eventually posting a quick 1:29.826.
He was briefly topped by teammate Bryce Fullwood, but his switch to the slicks saw him knock five seconds off his time, as he registered 47 laps, with Fullwood pulling the most laps of the day with 69.
For some comparison, a wet preseason test in 2022 produced a fastest time of 1:33.209, whilst the first pole position lap of 2022 at SMP in round 1 was a 1:29.359 by Anton De Pasquale.
Will Brown registered a P2 by sessions end with a healthy +1.313s split to Heimgartner, with Jack Smith put in a 1:31.160 to take third on the timesheets, over Davison and Davis Reynolds.
The other drivers to go under thirty two seconds were Winterbottom, Pye, Payne, Jones, Kostecki, Fullwood, and Feeney.
Van Gisbergen ended up +3.883s of the pace through 47 laps, just behind Mostert who put down a 1:33.426 for P22.
The second four hour session runs from 1-5pm, with more dry and cloudy weather expected to last throughout the session.
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