Heimgartner: BJR is in stronger position than last year

After a tough 2024 Repco Supercars Championship, there were positive signs from Brad Jones Racing at the Thrifty Sydney 500 - Opening Round.

At a track where spearhead Andre Heimgartner starred in 2023, claiming a pole in one race, and a front row start and runner-up finish in the other, the 29-year-old had a solid start to his 2025 season.

Both Heimgartner and teammate Bryce Fullwood qualified in the top 10 on Friday and Saturday, with the Kiwi going on to finish seventh and eighth respectively, whilst Fullwood claimed ninth in Race 1.

However, BJR's one lap woes from 2024 seemed to return on Sunday, with Fullwood the best of the four cars after qualifying in 15th.

Despite that, the 2019 Super2 champion nearly pulled off a miracle strategy when the rain came in the dying stages of Sunday's race, but a split-second decision to stick with dry tyres cruelled the day of the #14 Camaro.

Despite the difficult end to the weekend, Heimgartner says that the learnings from Sydney Motorsport Park already leave the team in a much better place than 2024.

“Tough day and tough finish to the weekend for us,” Heimgartner said.

"Overall, there's some big positives from this weekend but we're still obviously learning things which are making a little bit more sense than last year, which is good.

"I think we're in a stronger position and it's a long year, so looking forward to the rest of the season. We’ll keep chipping away and trying to move forward.”

It was also a promising weekend for the other side of the BJR garage, with Hemigartner's fellow Kiwi Jaxon Evans starring on Saturday with a very strong run in the #12 SCT Logisitics entry.

The 2018 Carrera Cup champion qualified 12th, and kept his nose clean in a chaotic race to come home with his second career top 10 finish, and a strong position in the championship.

However, it was also a difficult Sunday for the 28-year-old, who struggled after making a bad start, and also made a strategic gamble with the weather that didn't pay off.

"We leave the first round 13th in the championship which isn't too bad, and plenty to work on so excited for what's to come,” Evans said.

“Hopefully we've got some good momentum going and everyone can improve as the season goes on.”

On Race 3, Evans added: “Just a shocking start on my behalf which meant I dropped to the back of the field.

"Made up a few places by Turn 2, but really struggled with car balance compared to yesterday in the first stint.

"We went for a strategy call looking at the weather coming and thought it was going to pay off. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite the way.

" Came in for the last stop before it rained like everyone else and just struggled to sort of make any inroads from there. So finished 19th. Which isn’t great but that doesn't really dampen our spirits."

The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Melbourne SuperSprint, which will feature at the Formula 1 Louis Vuitton Australian Grand Prix 2025 on March 13-16.