Heimgartner on ‘painful’ JR Trophy near miss
Eleven years ago tears were shed when Jason Bright drove the #8 to the Jason Richards Trophy and Andre Heimgartner fell just short in 2024.
After a stunning drive in the wet to win the first Supercars race at Taupo on Saturday, Heimgartner was in a strong spot to bring the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy back to Brad Jones Racing.
Despite missing the Top 10 Shootout and starting 11th, the Kiwi put in a late-race charge on fresh tyres to sixth place.
He fell 1.7s short of James Golding in fifth, which ultimately would have been the position required to take the trophy.
Heimgartner would have scored an extra nine points if he passed Golding, enough to sneak ahead of Anton De Pasquale, who won the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy by eight points with a pair of thirds.
To make the near miss tougher for Heimgartner he revealed some misinformation meant that for a moment he thought he did enough to take the title, only to fall one spot short.
But considering the struggles of the Melbourne SuperSprint where BJR finished no higher than 14th, he is still pleased.
“I actually got geared up a bit because I thought I had to make up two more spots and I did, but it ended up being I needed another one on top of that,” he said.
“But I am still really proud of this team. Yesterday was very special and today was cool to battle hard, get a result and come so close again.
“At Pukekohe last time I needed another 10 points to get the JR Trophy which does make it painful.
“But saw Jason’s parents and they were so proud of what BJR was able to do.
“There is something special related to that number, car and team.”
Going forward Heimgartner is hopeful BJR has turned a page and can carry on some momentum into the following rounds at Perth and Darwin where the #8 took pole and was a podium regular last year.
“There is an element to it of this track suiting us. We started off at two tracks we knew were going to be tough for us,” Heimgartner said.
“Who knows going forward but we were heading in the right direction and cured a few of the big issues we had.
“We want to discover more and glad we have been able to turn around the season.”
2024 Jason Richards Memorial Trophy standings
1: A. De Pasquale 258 points
2: A. Heimgartner 252
3: W. Brown 234
4: J. Golding 207
5: J. Le Brocq 201
Taupo Super400 schedule (all times AEST)
Friday, April 19
Practice: 1: C. Mostert 1:26.4937 2: M. Payne +0.0318 3: W. Davison +0.0508
Saturday, April 20
Qualifying Race 7: 1: M. Payne 1:27.9684 2: A. De Pasquale +0.0940 3: C. Mostert +0.1669
Top 10 Shootout: 1: C. Waters 1:34.7415 2: W. Brown +0.5011 3: A. Heimgartner +0.5374
Race 7 (60 laps): 1: A. Heimgartner 2: W. Davison +1.1012 3: A. De Pasquale +2.5641
Sunday, April 21
Qualifying Race 8: 1: A. De Pasquale 2: C. Mostert +0.0272 3: W. Brown +0.0292
Top 10 Shootout: 1: M. Payne 1:26.8173 2: B. Feeney +0.0126 3: B. Kostecki +0.0306
Race 8 (60 laps): 1: W. Brown 2: B. Feeney +3.3585 3: A. De Pasquale +14.2612
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