Heimgartner writes off season after latest DNF

Andre Heimgartner has all but waved the white flag on his 2026 Finals hopes after suffering another reliability setback at the NTI Townsville 500.

It's been a rollercoaster campaign for the Kiwi, from the dizzying highs of converting pole position to a crushing race win in Tasmania, to the lows of suffering an engine failure in the second race of the season in Sydney.

The Townsville weekend was a low for the entire Brad Jones Racing squad, who struggled to crack the top 20 with any of their three Toyotas in qualifying trim over the course of the weekend.

That was until Sunday, when Heimgartner showed a promising turn of pace to qualify for the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout, highlighting that a turning point had been found during the Saturday race.

However, just as quickly as Heimgartner's fortunes seemed to be turning around, he was caught up in the Turn 2 melee at the start of the race, spinning him to the back of the pack.

The Kiwi then brought the #8 Toyota into the pit lane, however it wasn't due to accident damage. For the second time this season, engine dramas had ruled the 31-year-old out early in a 200km race.

“Had a positive start to the day with qualifying. Felt like we really unlocked some speed and got a bit of direction," said Heimgartner.

"Unfortunately, wasn't able to see if it came to anything in the race mainly due to some engine issues. So, not ideal.

"Second major thing we've had so far. That's of course a DNF so it puts a bit of a dampener on our Finals hopes and almost kills that.

"So now just looking forward to try and execute some races and just try and build up for next year now.”

It serves as a hemmer blow to Heimgartner's Finals hopes, dropping back to 14th behind Jayden Ojeda and Thomas Randle, and sitting 157 points outside the Finals bubble with four rounds remaining in the regular season.

Whilst by no means entirely out of the fight just yet, Heimgartner will need a serious form shift, recording an average finish of just 13.5 since his Tasmanian victory in May.

The BJRT spearhead missed the Finals by just three points last year, falling agonisingly short after being overtaken by Broc Feeney on the final lap of the Repco Bathurst 1000 at The Chase.

Heimgartner will race on adopted home soil when the Supercars season continues at the Bosch Power Tools Perth Super 440 from July 31-August 2.

2026 gap to Finals: Andre Heimgartner