How a poor start saved Heimgartner's race

A poor race start proved pivotal to Andre Heimgartner’s run from 20th to eighth in the Gold Coast finale.

Heimgartner gained 12 spots in Sunday’s race, which was headlined by the chicane pile-up.

The #8 R&J Batteries Commodore driver had the perfect view of the crash from last place.

Heimgartner dropped to 24th by the hairpin, and was 25th and last by the end of the first lap.

The Kiwi driver had the most telling view of all when all hell broke loose at the beach chicane on lap 4.

James Golding lost control after hitting a tyre bundle, and spun in front of the field.

Golding was hit by Broc Feeney, who veered left, and Nick Percat.

Percat was rear-ended by Macauley Jones, whose car caught alight.

Jones started 21st ahead of Bryce Fullwood, with both drivers clearing Brad Jones Racing teammate Heimgartner into Turn 1.

Tim Slade and Jake Kostecki pushed Heimgartner to last, but all drivers bar the Kiwi picked up significant damage in the crash.

Heimgartner calmly pulled his car up in time, and gentle contact with Slade's car was all he suffered.

It set the tone for a spirited charge, with Heimgartner up to 10th after the first round of stops.

He also had a front-row seat to the late-race chaos when he took the lap 75 restart in ninth.

Will Brown demoted Heimgartner to 10th, and later turned Scott Pye into a spin at the final corner.

Heimgartner arrives at the scene

Brown was penalised over the incident, promoting Heimgartner to eighth in the results.

Team owner Jones was full of praise for Heimgartner, who was forced out of Saturday’s race due to an engine misfire.

The misfire forced an overnight engine change for the #8 Commodore.

Critically, the car didn't pick up any damage on Sunday after BJR was forced to repair it after its Bathurst crash.

“It was a pretty tough day, our cars weren’t good all weekend,” Jones told Supercars’ Cool Down Lap podcast.

“Didn’t put it together in qualifying, but Macca got a great start and they changed the cars up for the race.

“His thing was hooked up, he passed a couple of cars, just in time to get behind Nick to get involved in that accident.

“But, Andre got out of it unscathed; he started at the back and fought his way up to eighth.

“The car wasn’t pretty, but I thought he did a really good job.”

Fullwood and Jack Smith both picked up minor damage in the chicane crash, with the #14 Middy’s Commodore losing a brake duct.

Once repaired, Fullwood had pace to burn and finished 13th, one place ahead of Smith.

Heimgartner, Fullwood and Smith gained a combined a 31 positions in the race.

“When they repaired Bryce and Jack’s cars waiting for the restart, they didn’t get everything to fit quite perfectly,” Jones added.

“Bryce clipped some tyres and tore a brake duct off his car, they had to put it back on at the last stop.

“He was off again, but for that middle stint he was running around with a good brake on one side and no brake on the other."

The 2022 Repco Supercars Championship will conclude on the Adelaide streets in December.