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The secret to Heimgartner's Melbourne podium

02 Apr
BJR star scores first trophy as a father
2 mins by James Pavey
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Secrets about extracting pace at Albert Park, unlocked by Bryce Fullwood and his crew, have paved the way to Andre Heimgartner’s Race 6 podium.

Heimgartner scored his first Supercars podium of the year in the final race of the Melbourne SuperSprint.

Brad Jones Racing’s first trophy of 2023 came after an inspired strategy play to start on the Hard tyre and pit early.

The Kiwi — who became a father last week — didn’t lose sight of Broc Feeney as they charged on new Super Softs after their early stops.

In the end, Heimgartner had held his nerve enough to score his first podium since Pukekohe 2022.

Fullwood emerged as BJR’s shining light in Melbourne, having gained 12 positions in the Thursday and Friday races, and qualifying third and fifth for Races 5 and 6.

The Middy’s Chevrolet was undone by unsafe release penalties, but the car was fast — and it also worked on Heimgartner’s #8 R&J Batteries Camaro.

"Started out not too bad, fastest in Practice 2. And then yeah, it just went downhill from there,” he said.

"So really struggled in those subsequent sessions. Luckily this weekend was so long.

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"And by the time you're done the first race and all the of the qualifyings you're now at Friday night, so got the opportunity to reset.

"We looked at some stuff — Bryce and their side made some good gains. So we just basically bolted that in for yesterday and today and produced some really good results.

"So we're very happy. And as a team, we performed very well with Macauley in seventh. So overall strong day for us.”

Fullwood came across the line fourth, but was dropped out of the top 10.

There was still more joy for BJR, with Macauley Jones seventh in his #96 Pizza Hut Camaro.

It came after Jones crashed out of Saturday’s race after a collision with Anton De Pasquale and Matt Payne, forcing overnight repairs.

“Pretty stoked, Jones said.

"The car's definitely fast around here and hopefully we can take a few of these things to Perth which is a very different circuit.

"I think as a group we learnt a lot and big thanks to the crew for repairing the thing overnight after we sort of got clipped in the rear and then put it in the fence last night."

Heimgartner is fourth in the championship heading to the Perth SuperSprint on April 28-30.

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