Heimgartner explains Randle incident

Andre Heimgartner says prior contact from Thomas Randle was motivation behind their pit straight incident.

Heimgartner and Randle made high-speed contact down the pit straight late in Saturday’s race, which was won by Shane van Gisbergen.

It came after Heimgartner led the early stanza of the race after he started on Super Soft tyres.

Randle was already a lap down relative to the #8 R&J Batteries Commodore, but was on fresher tyres.

Speaking with Supercars.com, Heimgartner alleged prior contact from Randle instigated the later contact.

“He just punted me off at the last corner,” Heimgartner told Supercars.com.

The pit straight incident

“I dunno, I just let him know I wasn’t too happy about it.

“We all like to race hard, but you don’t need to bash people out of the way.

“On the straight, I don’t think we meant to make that much contact; he swerved right as I swerved left.

“We hit pretty hard, but it’s all fun and games and part of racing. But I’d prefer not to be punted out of the way.”

Heimgartner would end up dropping 14th by race’s end after a fuel issue.

Randle, who stopped three times, finished 20th and a lap down.

Heimgartner was disappointed to see a good result go begging due to the fuel drama.

“There must have been a leak,” he said.

“We put in enough fuel, but somehow we were a bit short at the end.

“It’s just one of those things, it’s pretty disappointing.

"We could have had a really strong first race with the team."

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