Heimgartner impresses in Sepang GT cameo

Andre Heimgartner has impressed in a cameo appearance at the 2023 Sepang 12 Hours, scoring a class podium.

The Brad Jones Racing driver shared an AMAC Motorsport Porsche with Andrew Macpherson and William Porter at the weekend.

Heimgartner, Macpherson and Porter finished second in the GT3 Am class and seventh overall.

The New Zealander’s cameo came just a week after he commenced his 2023 Supercars campaign in Newcastle.

Heimgartner’s Chevrolet Camaro debut with BJR was marked by two top 10 finishes, with the Kiwi equal fourth in the points.

There was little time tor rest, however, with Heimgartner jetting off to Malaysia for the Sepang race, the first of its kind since 2017.

Heimgartner was in the thick of it in the closing minutes, and overhauled the Modena Motorsports Porsche late on.

The Kiwi crossed the line just 1.014s ahead of the John Shen/Francis Tjia/Christian Chia 911 GT3 R.

Overall honours went to Absolute Racing, with Andrew Haryanto, Yu Kuai and Markus Winkelhock leading the team’s #18 Audi to victory.

The final three hours of the race saw five teams running four different manufacturers in the battle for victory.

In the final 30 minutes of the race, the top three were covered by 30 seconds, with the second- and third-placed cars covered by four seconds.

Christopher Haase hunted down Reid Harker’s Porsche to seal an Audi one-two with only 10 minutes to go.

Remarkably, there were no safety cars, accidents, red flags or interruptions from start to finish.

Heimgartner will return to Australia in preparation for the forthcoming Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint.

The March 30-April 2 event will see Supercars take to Albert Park for races on all four days.