Heimgartner Supercars engineer makes TCR debut

Tony Woodward is working at this weekend’s Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series round at Sandown as Luke King’s race engineer, a role he normally fills in Supercars with Andre Heimgartner.

Woodward has worked at Brad Jones Racing since 2015 and hence is connected to King through Jason Bright and Wally Storey, both former members of the Albury-based team.

“Tony Woodward’s name popped up when we knew Brighty wasn’t going to be around in Melbourne this weekend,” explained the Hyundai driver.

“Tony was someone Brighty recommended and comes from the Wally Storey school of engineers as both worked at Brad Jones Racing.

“Having worked with both Brighty and Wally led us down this path, so Tony’s come out this weekend.”

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Woodward has not worked in the category before, but has been doing his homework on the i30 N.

“When we had asked Tony if he would do it and he agreed, he has since been chatting to Hyundai Motorsport in Germany to ensure he understands and ensured he has all the access to our data systems,” noted King.

“The i30 N TCR runs a Life program, which is probably a lot different to the similar MoTeC system he’s used to.

“Tony is pretty keen for it. He’s ready for a new challenge with a completely different car in a fresh team and a fresh series.”

Heimgartner is eighth in the Repco Supercars Championship after two podiums and a sixth last time out at Pukekohe.

King was ninth in Practice 1 for Round 6 of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series, earlier today, with Practice 2 scheduled for 14:40 local time/AEST.

Stan Sport’s live and ad-free coverage of the Sandown round of the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships starts tomorrow at 11:00 AEST.