New Zealand win as big as Bathurst for Heimgartner
New Zealand win as big as Bathurst for Andre Heimgartner
Heimgartner one of just four Kiwis to win a Supercars race on home soil
ITM Taupō Super 440 track action to commence on Friday
For Andre Heimgartner, victory at this weekend's ITM Taupō Super 440 would carry as much sentiment as the biggest single race prize in Supercars at Mount Panorama.
Make no mistake, Heimgartner is well aware of the gravitas behind a Bathurst 1000 victory, something only six New Zealanders have achieved.
Even fewer have won a Supercars race in New Zealand, with Heimgartner, Greg Murphy, Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin the only homegrown stars to win on home soil.
Jim Richards dominated Australian touring car racing in the 1980s and 1990s, winning four championships to go with his seven Bathurst wins. Murphy was New Zealand's hero in the early 2000s, before McLaughlin and van Gisbergen paved the way for the latest generation.
With van Gisbergen and McLaughlin both moving on, Kiwis have only won two of the last 30 races; Heimgartner in Taupō and Matt Payne in Townsville last year.
While he is already a winner in Taupō, Heimgartner wants nothing more than to not only do it again, but avenge his narrow defeat to Anton De Pasquale in last year's chase for the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy.
If he can do that, the Brad Jones Racing driver would rate it as high as a Bathurst win.
"It's something we don't really think about too much until we get to New Zealand," Heimgartner said on The Formation Lap.
"Obviously us Kiwis are quite patriotic, and we're always sort of the little brother of Australia, so we always want to get one in on Australia.
"For sure, when we come to New Zealand, it's our home ground. Ryan Wood spent a lot of time in Taupo growing up, I spent a lot of time there. We both had holiday homes, my dad raced at that track, I raced quad bikes out the back.
"We're quite emotionally attached to New Zealand, and especially those areas. For all of us, it's one on the map that's tied with winning Bathurst if you do really well at home.
"It's in front of everyone you grow up with, all your family's there that can't come over to Australia all the time, it's something we don't get to enjoy very often.
"It's definitely special."
ITM Taupō Super 440 track action will commence on Friday with two practice sessions.
