Final FG X on-track for Heimgartner

Rookie racer Andre Heimgartner is ready for his FG X upgrade, and is the last of five Ford drivers to receive the new model V8 Supercar.

The Super Black driver is counting on a boost for Tasmania with the model V8 Supercar that recorded all four 1-2 finishes at the Australian Grand Prix, as he faces the tough task of tackling a track he has never raced at before.

The tight, short Symmons Plains circuit is quite unique, with two long straights and the tight hairpin, notorious for incidents over the years of V8 Supercars racing.

Throw in the fact that 19-year old Heimgartner has never raced on the Dunlop soft tyre, which teams only have available on Sunday, and there are plenty of challenges to overcome.

Heimgartner, who sits 20th in the points and recorded a best finish of 18th in the final race at the AGP (despite a time penalty), is pleased with his start to the season, having managed to keep his Super Black Falcon clean around two street circuits.

"It's going alright, I'm learning but I think I made some good progress over the last couple of rounds, so I think everyone's pretty happy," the kiwi told v8supercars.com.au.

"It's good when you keep on making progress and I think once we get this new car we should make another jump forward. The team's working well, I'm working well with my engineers and mechanics, so all positive at the moment."

Heimgartner has been watching back old races from Symmons Plains, uses a simulator to help prepare, and has a wealth of resources amongst Prodrive Racing (Australia) to access, including plenty of past data and the chance to chat to the other drivers.

"It looks like a good track to go racing on, a lot of passing goes on, it's really close, so I'm pretty excited to get stuck into it," he said of Symmons Plains.

"I have a simulator and do a lot of that stuff, look through a lot of data with my engineer as well, which helps ... we've been going there a long time, and I've always got Frosty to ask about stuff as well, so I've got a decent base, there's not a lack of information around."

There has been some focus on Heimgartner after the final rolling start at the last event at the Formula One Rolex Australian Grand Prix, with the #111 being penalised for jumping the start, along with teammate David Reynolds. Chaos ensued behind.

The double file rolling restarts, which are unique to the AGP showcase event, were utilised through 2013 as part of the 60/60 format. But with Heimgartner and his engineer Dilan Talibani (who directs the driver to accelerate) reasonably new to the sport, there isn't experience with the rolling starts.

"Obviously you're always trying to get a good advantage off the start and I did what I was told to do," Heimgartner said.

"I went and then I saw it was a bit early - I saw the carnage happening to my right and I didn't want to slow down and be a part of that so obviously I accelerated off...

"To be honest, we knew he [leader and stablemate Mark Winterbottom] was going to go long but the extent that he went we didn't know. We sort of knew what would happen but we didn't get it 100 per cent right."

There are plenty more firsts for Heimgartner in Tasmania next week, with the young gun focused particularly on the 84-lap Sunday race.

After a front roll bar failure at the Clipsal 500, he hasn't been able to complete a Sunday race, and with very limited soft tyres in his car's tyre bank, it will be his first time on the softer Dunlop compound.

"I think we're bringing one set which is good, so I've got one set I'll be able to use because it's obviously a lot different to the hard tyre.

"It'll be interesting to see what happens - hopefully I can get an advantage from the new cars, put all my skills online and we'll find out."

The team is working through the final stages of the conversion from the FG to FG X bodywork, with the V8 Supercars to be loaded into the trucks tomorrow to make the trip over to Tasmania.

"They're just converting that over at the moment, that's very exciting - they've made a big step forward and obviously the two Pepsi cars did very well at the AGP so there definitely is something in that car compared to the car I was in the last two rounds, so it will be exciting to hop in and hopefully gain a little bit of an advantage."

The move means V8 Supercars has seen the Falcon FG run its last race at the Australian Grand Prix.

Prodrive Racing (Australia) took the FG to two Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 wins over the last two years, and the FG has served Ford teams for just over six years in the V8SC, appearing in 84 V8 Supercars rounds and racking up 55 race wins - more wins than any other model Falcon in ATCC/V8SC history.

Secure your tickets for next week's Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint, from March 27 to 29, and see the V8 Supercars tackle Symmons Plains for the second round of the 2015 Championship.