Andre the giant-slayer: Race 9 takeaways
The Bend Motorsport Park played host to some Supercars history on Saturday, with Andre Heimgartner claiming his maiden championship race win.
Heimgartner’s dominant run to victory in the OTR SuperSprint came in the 25-year-old’s 161st career start, having made his debut as a teenager in 2014 at Mount Panorama.
The New Zealander became the 81st driver in championship history to win a race; the most recent first-time winner was Anton De Pasquale (Darwin 2020), who joined Heimgartner on the podium.
WATCH: HISTORY AT THE BEND: RACE 9 RECAP
It marked the first win for Kelly Grove Racing under its new guise, with the Braeside operation welcoming investment from the Grove Group ahead of the 2021 season.
It was also the first win by a Kelly-prepared car since Rick Kelly broke through for the team aboard a Nissan Altima at Winton in 2018.
The win was Ford’s first of 2021, and the first since Cameron Waters’ Race 30 victory at the same venue last September.
It was also Ford’s 399th championship race win; Holden leads the way on 578 victories.
It was the 38th win for the Ford Mustang GT model, taking it to 10th outright on the all-time list, and one win behind the Falcon BF.
The Mustang has now won eight of the last nine races at The Bend.
Chaz Mostert scored his 62nd career podium; Dick Johnson is next in his sights, with the legendary driver scoring 65 career podiums.
Mostert helped Walkinshaw Andretti United to its 250th podium, 31 years after the decorated team debuted with the Holden Racing Team moniker.
It was the eighth career podium for Anton De Pasquale, and his third in four races following a double-podium effort.
Race 9 also saw Red Bull Ampol Racing fail to have a car on the podium for the second race running. The last time Triple Eight cars went two races without a podium was across the Sydney Motorsport Park and Darwin events last season.
Brad Jones Racing driver Nick Percat finished fifth, having started 26th and last following a shocking qualifying effort earlier in the day.
The Repco Supercars Championship field will return on Sunday for Race 10 qualifying at 9:40am AEST. Check out the full weekend schedule here.
The OTR SuperSprint will be broadcast live on Foxtel and will be streamed on Kayo with highlights on 7 and 7 Plus.
