Kiwis' luck runs out in second Taupō Supercars race

By Eric Thompson

While not quite the fairy-tale result of two Kiwi race wins on the return of Supercars to New Zealand soil, Andre Heimgartner did give New Zealand motorsport fans something to cheer for on Saturday by winning race one.

The weather played a part in the New Zealander’s win, levelling the playing field in Taupō. However, Sunday’s race saw a return to the status quo with the Red Bull Racing duo of Will Brown and Broc Feeney finishing first and second.

“It was awesome racing between me and Broc and I hope everyone watching enjoyed it,” said Brown. “I was buggered at the end of it and was just pleased to get past him. A mega day and I had a lot of fun fighting with Broc.

“I might have touched him once but tried not to too much. I was so much faster than him mid-corner and it was one of my best races of my life.

“I didn’t want to bump him and put both of us off, so had to concentrate really hard. I’m so pleased we came back to New Zealand and hope we get two rounds here at some stage.”

Unlike Saturday’s rain-soaked race of carnage and chaos, the second stanza of the Supercars return at Taupō was a much more measured affair.

Matthew Payne set his cards out on the table during qualifying and the Top 10 Shootout Sunday morning by outclassing the rest of the field to start the race from pole. He managed to hold off the chasing trio of Feeney, Anton De Pasquale and Brown during the first 15 laps, but had to eventually settle into fourth.

The race settled into a cat-and-mouse rhythm and by half-race distance after the first round of pit stops the order was Feeney, De Pasquale and Brown with best-placed Kiwi Payne in fifth and Saturday’s race winner Heimgartner in 14th.

Nothing much changed in the later stages of the race with Brown and Feeney holding a comfortable 14-second lead over De Pasquale and Payne. Heimgartner came home in sixth, just missing out on winning the Jason Richards Trophy for the round win, which went to De Pasquale. Fellow Kiwis Richie Stanaway, Ryan Wood and Jaxon Evans finished 11th, 13th and 14th respectively.

“We didn’t have the best day and it was pretty tough,” said Payne. “We probably didn’t quite have the car today and struggled with tyres.

“We’ll get there and we’re a work in progress and we’ll get there. It’s positive we had the speed in qualifying and be able to put ourselves in a good place to start a race.

“Tough day, but good points.”

Heimgartner made the most of his B.J.R. car’s ability in the wet to win his second Supercars race of his career on Saturday. The Kiwi led the lion’s share (49 laps) of the 60-lap race despite heavy pressure from Chaz Mostert.

Heimgartner’s get-out-of-jail card came during Mostert’s second pit stop when his right rear wheel parted company with the car necessitating another pit stop to rectify the problem.

“It wasn’t cruisy by any stretch. I think Chaz was probably outright faster than me, but I had a lot better drive which meant I could just keep him behind me,” said Heimgartner.

“So, I just had to not make any mistakes and then obviously his wheel fell off or whatever happened, and then that released me a bit.”

His fellow New Zealanders Wood crossed the line fourth, Stanaway sixth, Evans 10th and Payne 13th.

Brown now leads the championship on 809 points from Feeney (738), Mostert (613) with the best of the Kiwis Stanaway, fourth on 526 points, and Payne in fifth with 519 points.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission