Heinrich pounces on late Hansford error in TCM opener.

Joel Heinrich has swooped on a late error from a fast Ryan Hansford on the last lap of the Touring Car Masters opener, with the Camaro driver taking his fourth win of the year to deny the Multispares Torana a fourth of its own.

Hansford drove his Hossier tyres to perfection to take the lead before the halfway point, with Heinrich also working past championship leader Steve “Junior” Johnson in the #33 Brut Mustang who took third from a persistent Andrew Fisher in the Jesus Torana.

But it wasn’t to be for the 2022 TCM champ, as a costly error whilst pushing his Torana hard at the hairpin saw the Aussie Racing Cars champion dive past.

Here’s how the race went down…

Race 1 of the Touring Car Masters at the VAILO Adelaide 500 got going with Tasmanian Adam Garwood as a surprise pole getter in the VC Commodore next to the rampant Steven Johnson in the Brut Mustang, with his long-time mate John Bowe looking to upset him from third in his last TCM weekend in his iconic Torana.

A rolling start saw Garwood take Turn 1 over Johnson, with Heinrich jumping into third over the three Torana’s of Hansford, Bowe and Fisher, with the latter two losing touch by the second lap.

Johnson was putting up the Commodore, whilst Heinrich in the yellow Camaro had a look, but Hansford pulled a great move to go into second, and before too long, he powered past Garwood.

Johnson then took second, leaving Garwood to battle against the Aussie Racing Cars champion, which he got done at Turn 7 on lap 4, with the Commodores Hoosiers seemingly shot and short of grip.

At the halfway mark the Trophy Race winner from earlier in the day was just over one second ahead of the #33 Brut Mustang, but Heinrich was applying big pressure on the series leader, taking second to share a similar gap to Hansford.

Lance Hughes in the red Torana was the highest of the visiting NZ drivers in 11, with that group running a messy grippy tyre.

As the race neared its conclusion on lap 8, Heinrich closed on Hansford with Johnson four seconds back.

But then the Multispares Torana found some toe across the line on lap 9 to take little but more space but he needed to be clean, as the Torana then found traffic, with both clearing it in some hairy moments.

Hansford took the kerbs beautifully on the last lap and looked very balanced as Heinrich’s tyres were too burnt to get near him. But then there was a disaster, as he spun at the hairpin when he had it all ahead of him.

Heinrich then crossed the line with a fortunate win, with Hansford having a big enough gap to take second over Johnson with Fisher close behind in fourth.

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