Heinrich takes hat-trick
It is certainly a case of home sweet home for Joel Heinrich as he cruised to a Touring Car Masters hat-trick at The Bend.
Heinrich completed his dominance with a crushing 10s win over Adam Garwood and Andrew Fisher.
Ryan Hansford had a grip of second place, only for a left-front failure to bring his race to an end three laps from home.
The result continues the Whiteline Racing driver’s love affair with his home circuit, having dominated the venue in recent years and continues his charge to the crown.
Hansford soared from the second row to the lead thanks to a mega move.
The Multispares Torana got a strong launch and sent it down the inside of Heinrich and Garwood as the leaders went three-wide into Turn 1.
Despite a wiggle under braking, Hansford got it stopped to steal the lead, while Garwood was the big loser, also falling behind Fisher to fourth.
However, a wide moment at Turn 13 opened the door for Heinrich, and he pounced to return to the lead at the following left-hander and was never headed.
By the end of the first lap, Hansford was on the defensive again with Fisher and Garwood looking dangerous.
A rub with Hansford coming out of the penultimate corner proved costly for Fisher as Garwood charged past in the Capri.
Johnson also thought about joining their battle, making the trio side by side down the straight, but the BRUT Mustang backed out.
After a few quiet laps the contest for second was sparked again when Hansford and Garwood went side by side into the opening corner with the Multispares Torana prevailing.
Unfortunately, Hansford’s time in second came undone when his left front suspension failed at the start of Lap 7.
The suspension failed under pressure when the brakes were applied in the heavy stop at Turn 1.
After some impressive car control, Hansford had no choice, but to pull over and sacrifice a hard-fought podium.
Despite some late spot fires, the race stayed green until the end.
Peter Burnitt and Martin Riseley came to blows heading into the penultimate corner, which left the Torana taking a trip through the gravel.
The David Hender Torana soon stopped off track on the outside of the fast right hander, having endured a wild spin.
Despite the clock coming down, the field enjoyed an extra lap of racing, which created a headache for Garwood.
He had Fisher breathing down his neck and the pair made aggressive contact coming into Turn 14.
The pair kept it on track as the #1 Capri kept the Jesus Racing Torana at bay.
Scott Cameron held onto fifth, which was enough to take Pro Am ahead of Cam Tilley as Pro Sport went to Jeremy Hassell.
This clean sweep puts Heinrich in the box seat for the championship with two rounds to go at the Bathurst 1000 and Sandown 500.
Image: Touring Car Masters
Practice 2: 1: Jamie Whincup 1:50.5875 2: Todd Hazelwood +0.2082 3: Dale Wood +0.3248
Practice 3: 1: Will Brown 1:48.9957 2: Broc Feeney +0.3210 3: Thomas Randle +0.3837
Practice 4: 1 James Moffat 1:50.7387 2 Lee Holdsworth +0.1864 3 Rylan Gray +0.2128
Practice 5: 1 Ryan Wood 1:49.2867 2 Brodie Kostecki +0.0272 3 Broc Feeney +0.0584
Qualifying: 1 Brodie Kostecki 1:49.3947 2 Broc Feeney +0.0081 3 Cameron Waters +0.0628
Top 10 Shootout: 1 Broc Feeney 1:48.6548 2 Cameron Hill +0.1023 3 Brodie Kostecki +0.1286
Warm Up: Sunday 9.30-9.50
Race 26: Sunday 13.45-17.18 102 laps
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