Heimgartner's Perth nightmare continues with grid penalty

Andre Heimgartner's nightmare run at his adopted home event has gone from bad to worse during Boost Mobile Qualifying for Race 16 at the Bosch Power Tools Perth Super 440.

The Kiwi entered the weekend ninth in points, 13 points inside the bubble for the Finals, however a lack of car speed in the #8 Camaro was compounded by a lap 1, Turn 1 incident during Race 15 with Aaron Cameron.

Heimgartner qualified 20th for both of Saturday's races, and finished 21st and a lapped 22nd, and could only muster 22nd in qualifying on Sunday morning.

However, as he was set to begin his final run in the final minutes of Q1, Cameron once again found trouble with the Kiwi, this time being baulked on a lap that was set to see the BRT Mustang enhance it's position at the top of the timesheets.

Officials took a dim view to the incident, with Heimgartner being quickly slapped with a two-spot grid penalty for this afternoon's race, consigning him to 24th on the grid.

Celebrating his 30th birthday, the Perth resident was apologetic for his role in the awkward moment, saying that the tight confines of the 2.42km circuit make it difficult to find clear track space.

"I obviously shouldn't have been in the way, but there were people starting laps, I was trying to start a lap, I was trying to start a lap, and there were people trying to warm up their tyres," Heimgartner explained.

"It's the old thing, everyone arrives at one spot, you look out the front trying to gauge what's happening there and then people are coming from behind.

"Obviously my fault, I shouldn't have been in the way, often it's just those messy situations where you don't have a choice. You sort of have to go at some point."

As for the lack of speed in qualifying on Sunday, the 30-year-old said that there were lingering effects from his Turn 1 incident yesterday which damaged the steering of the R&J Batteries entry.

"I think we have a bit of a carryover from the contact yesterday, just something with the steering, but anyway, it is what it is," said Heimgartner.

"We're just going through a tough patch at the moment, but that's alright, it's my birthday so I got to smile about something."

The Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout for Race 16 will begin at 1:05pm local time/3:05pm AEST, before the 83 lap finale, the 100th ATCC/Supercars race to be held in Perth, begins at 3:15pm local time/5:15pm AEST.