‘Pretty speedy’ Heimgartner taking confidence to SMP test

Andre Heimgartner is taking confidence into next week’s Sydney Supercars test after a promising two-day outing at Winton.

Brad Jones Racing shook down and then tested all four of its Gen3 Chevrolet Camaros, including the #8 R&J Batteries entry of Heimgartner, on consecutive days at the Victorian circuit earlier this week.

The Albury-based squad persevered with a tight tyre bank on the first of those days before getting into more performance-oriented running on the second, which has left its Kiwi spearhead upbeat.

“I had a pretty productive day; the car rolled out a bit nicer, which was good,” said Heimgartner, who finished 10th in the 2022 championship, after what was officially his first test day of 2023 (as opposed to the shakedown).

“Did some tuning stuff but the track got a bit hot so what we were able to learn was a bit limited for the rest of the day.

“We got some idea on some set-up direction so we can go away and come together with it over the next couple of days – what we’ve learnt, some different set-up ideas and philosophies, and come back and try and put them together. But overall, a successful day.

“I think we’re pretty speedy, it’s always hard to know at test days like this – what tyre you’re running, what everyone else is running – but I’m pretty happy with how we’re sitting and how the car feels so we’ll find out exactly where we are when we get to Sydney.”

Team owner Brad Jones was also pleased with how the squad spared, despite new-car teething issues, and also completed a late fuel run-out with Car #8.

“For us, we had the wheels lock up on Andre’s car for no reason, just before the final run out there,” he told Speedcafe.com.

“We ran out of juice and our timing was probably out a little, but just making sure that the fuel run worked okay.

“We had a couple of little electrical things we had to work through early on, but nothing you wouldn’t expect with a new car build.

“All in all, I’m really happy with how things have gone,” added Jones.

“Honestly, when you think about this car, with everything new, except the transaxle, to have this few issues is amazing.”

Heimgartner, as well as team-mates Bryce Fullwood, Macauley Jones, and Jack Smith will test with the rest of the Supercars field at Sydney Motorsport Park this Wednesday.

VIDEO: Brad Jones Racing Gen3 test day wrap