Heimgartner looking to turn around 'confusing' season

Andre Heimgartner has opened up on what has been a difficult 2024 season for Brad Jones Racing, and believes his team is close to "getting back on our feet."

Save for a stirring performance to claim victory on home soil in Taupo, Heimgartner has rarely featured in the top 10 after a consistent season saw him finish seventh in points last year.

Currently sitting 12th in the points standings, the Kiwi has admitted that the season has not panned out the way the Albury-based team has wanted.

“It's obviously been pretty difficult. There's no hiding from it, our results have been pretty poor,” the two-time race winner admitted to Supercars.com.

“It’s not where we expected them to be, especially after last year, and even the year before that, when we had some really good results. We were quite consistently in the top 10, if not the top five, week in, week out.

"And this year, we've been nowhere near that mark. It's been quite confusing. It's just a bit of a slump which we’ll have to work out of.”

Further reflecting upon his season so far, the 29-year-old, now based in Perth, says there have been few standout weekends other than his triumphant home event.

However, he remains adamant that BJR are inching closer to unlocking the performance that Heimgartner and teammate Bryce Fullwood enjoyed last year.

“Obviously Taupō was one good round we managed to have, with the rain and different things, and we managed to come out on top, which was awesome," he explained.

"But apart from that, unfortunately, it's been a bit bleak for us. But I’m confident we'll bounce back. It’s only a temporary phase.

"I feel like we're starting to bounce a bit out of it now and we're not far away from getting some good results and getting back on our feet.”

Heimgartner is eagerly anticipating the challenges that Tasmania could provide this weekend, with the cold weather forecast set to throw new challenges at the field.

The Supercars Championship hasn’t raced in Tasmania in August since 1999, and forecast rain is set to add a further challenge, one that Heimgartner believes would further help his cause.

“Who knows what Tasmania's gonna throw up. It's gonna be so unique with how cold it is. I don't know if we've ever run in temperatures this cold," Heimgartner said.

"We don’t really know what we're going to be looking for until we sort of get there and start doing some laps.

We're just not fast enough at the moment. But in Tassie, I definitely wouldn't mind if there was some rain.”

After Tasmania, Heimgartner will have a new co-driver join him for Sandown and Bathurst, with 2022 Super2 champion Declan Fraser jumping aboard the R&J Batteries Camaro.

Heimgartner enjoyed a strong end to the 2023 season, save for a DNF at Bathurst with an engine failure, and believes he can replicate that form if BJR can find more performance.

“We’re definitely thinking about it, especially because the rest of the season's been quite tricky," he added.

"Sandown and Bathurst, the longer races should suit us a bit better. We have quite good race pace, but any time there's shorter races and qualifying involved, we're quite restricted at the moment.

“It's definitely a part of the year that I'm looking forward to. There's much more opportunity in these longer races. Historically I go quite well at longer races, so really looking forward to it.

“We want to turn around our luck from the last few years at Bathurst, which has been very miserable.”

The 2024 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint on August 16-18. Tickets for the event are on sale now.

Live coverage can be found on Foxtel, with live streaming available on Kayo. Highlights will be shown on the Seven Network and 7plus. International viewers can follow all the action on Superview.