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Super Black praises Heimgartner's performance

30 Mar 2015
Rookie comes home with top 10 result at Symmons Plains in first outing in the FG X.
2 mins by James Pavey
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Nineteen-year old Andre Heimgartner has impressed his Super Black Racing team with a stellar performance across the weekend's Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint.

Heimgartner had never driven at the Symmons Plains circuit before, hadn't steered the FG X and hadn't run on a green Dunlop soft tyre before Sunday - and coming home eighth in the 200km race, ahead of big names including Fabian Coulthard and James Courtney was a real highlight for the young gun and his Kiwi team.

Team principal Paul Radisich - a respected former V8 Supercars competitor - thought the performance by the youngster was incredible.

"Andre is a great young talent and for him to finish in eighth today after never driving the track before the practice on Friday is just fantastic," he said.

"The team is very happy with how everything went this weekend in terms of where we finished, the progress we've made with the FG X and how Andre has developed as a driver.

"We had a plan, but I think Andre has proven why he is the team's first driver."

The #111 stood out all weekend, having qualified fifth and seventh, and while he made an error in the second Saturday race that undid his good work, Sunday he held it together to stay in the top 10 and come home strong.

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"I'm am so stoked with the result. It was a challenging and long race but I learnt a hell of a lot and couldn't have asked for a better race, really," Heimgartner said.

Heimgartner is happy with the FG X Falcon and similarly to his Prodrive stablemates, saw an upturn in performance with the new specification car, which boasts superior aerodynamics to the previous FG.

"The FG X is a lot more stable in the rear which gave me the confidence to push it," he said.

"A huge thanks to the guys who gave me an awesome car this weekend. But it was obviously good for the team to get our first top 10 finish and I can't wait for the next round to get stuck into it again."

After his first Championship event, Heimgartner sat 20th in the points - but his efforts in Tasmania meant a leap to 14th, just eight points behind fellow Kiwi Scott McLaughlin, and 73 behind stablemate, 10th placed Chaz Mostert.

The V8 Supercars next hit the track at Barbagallo Raceway in Perth from May 1 to 3.

Last year in the Dunlop Series, Heimgartner finished third overall for the round at the West Australian venue, behind Ash Walsh and Dean Fiore, after winning the second race.

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