What Heimgartner wants to be a title contender
Andre Heimgartner targets qualifying improvement in 2024
Heimgartner finished seventh in 2023 standings
BJR star scored career-best haul of six podiums last year
Andre Heimgartner says consistency over one-lap is key for his and Brad Jones Racing’s championship hopes.
Heimgartner heads into 2024 off the back of a career-best season, with the Kiwi finishing seventh overall with six podiums and a pole.
However, his season was a case of rocks and diamonds when it came to consistency — at times, Heimgartner was a front-row regular while at others, he couldn’t crack the top 10.
Notably, Heimgartner was on the front row in Darwin, but qualified 17th in the next race in Townsville.
The #8 R&J Batteries Camaro driver’s average start was 11.4, ranked 12th for all drivers — five spots worse than his championship position.
“We felt we got on top of the car towards the end of the year, but there’s a bit more learning to go to understand how to maximise it week in, week out,” Heimgartner told Supercars.com.
“It’ll be interesting to get back to tracks next year and consolidate over the course of a season. We know we’re as fast as anyone when the car’s right.
“To be a championship contender, firstly, you need to qualify towards the front. We had good race pace, but my average starting position was 11th.
“It just shows our race pace was very strong, and we made it count when we qualified towards the front. Speed was there, but we’re trying to unlock it consistently."
The 28-year-old's campaign was ultimately undone by a DNF at the 300-point Repco Bathurst 1000, with his day curtailed by an incident for co-driver Dale Wood and later, a terminal engine failure.
It was the second year running that Heimgartner was forced out of the Great Race through no fault of his own, yet his impressive results elsewhere endured he brought home a top 10 points position.
Having had a taste of the front-running in 2023, which also included a pole position at Sydney Motorsport Park, Heimgartner wants more in ’24.
“Last year was really solid, although we were disappointed by where we ended up in the championship,” Heimgartner told Supercars.com.
“Any time you’re near the top 10, it’s great — but for a long time, we were looking solid for a top five.
“The Bathurst DNF really killed the year, we’re had no DNFs to that point. It was out of our control, but things like that happen, that’s racing.
“You don’t want it to happen in a race like that, because they matter the most. That was tough, but over the year, we had great speed.
“Our time will come, and we're progressing closer and closer to our ultimate goal.”
Heimgartner will be joined at BJR by returning drivers Bryce Fullwood and Macauley Jones, with Jaxon Evans replacing Jack Smith.
The BJR quartet will test at Winton Motor Raceway on Wednesday February 7 ahead of the Thrifty Bathurst 500 on February 23-25.
