How 'out of control' Heimgartner stunned legends and rivals in statement win

Andre Heimgartner faced what is arguably the biggest Supercars pressure test possible in Tasmania, as championship leader Broc Feeney hounded the back of his Toyota for lap after lap.

Heimgartner didn't just withstand the pressure, he flourished in the situation, allowing Brad Jones Racing's famed pit stop prowess to shine bright on his way to his and the team's first win in two years.

It was pressure the likes of which we haven't seen this decade. Per Supercars data analyst Scott Sinclair, Feeney applied the longest sustained pressure on a race leader in 10 years, yet the 30-year-old didn't blink.

It was this calmness under pressure, which followed a superb run to pole position, that turned heads, including Supercars Hall of Famer Mark Skaife, who described his performance as, 'the best drive I've ever seen him put on'.

“I was really impressed with Heimgartner,” Skaife said on MotorRacing 360.

"For him to put that lap together, and for his start to be so good, and for him to get that win, first dry win ever.

“As a young bloke coming through, he’s shown glimpses of what it takes.

“Heimgartner is out of control under brakes. He is really, really good with his braking technique, and it really showed on the weekend."

The sentiment was echoed by 2015 Supercars champion Mark Winterbottom on the latest episode of Supercars' The Run Home podcast.

Winterbottom, a former stablemate of Heimgartner in the Kiwi's rookie season in 2015, was particularly impressed by how mistakes were completely removed from Heimgartner's game, despite being pushed all the way.

"At that point of the race, Andre had done his research, he knew the way Broc was driving and analysed him, and for 20 laps he was watching at the hairpin going wide, and knowing he could punch off the corner and out-drag him down the back straight," said Winterbottom.

"One mistake, and it's all over, and you go from hero to zero very quickly. But he was fast in the right spots, and I think that's what Andre knew, he was very strategic in how he drove.

"To not make mistakes, you can picture when you watch on TV, the cars brake at 150-140m, sixth gear up into Turn 4. The rears are locking, you go all the way through the gearbox, when you pull first the tyres chirp, you turn.

"To do that under immense pressure for 20 laps is really, really hard to do. You could see him, he'd come out of Turn 2 ok, he'd always look in the mirror, he never blocked, he always went up high and backed himself.

"Knowing that Broc wasn't going to dive down the inside, it was quite calculated, and he got the job done. When you win that way, it's such a more rewarding win than what we saw from Broc on Sunday when he drives off."

However, the man with the best seat in the house was Feeney, who worked Heimgartner over tirelessly in the first stint to no avail, and admitted that the Kiwi simply drove too well for the #88 Ford to attempt a move.

"I think every time I would be on his rear bar out of Turn 3 he would block, but when he was a couple of car lengths in front he would still run the high line," reflected Feeney in the post-race press conference.

"In the ideal world you do run up and rub them a little bit and then get the side draft, but I was just struggling a little bit with the traction from running the low line.

"Every time I pulled a gear it would chatter and he would get that little bit further away."

The win saw Heimgartner close to within 123 points of the Finals bubble, with the 2026 season to continue at the betr Darwin Triple Crown from June 19-21. Tickets are on sale now.

Andre Heimgartner and Broc Feeney's epic first stint

Race 15, 2026 Tyrepower Tasmania Super 440