While Walkinshaw TWG Racing chalked up Toyota’s first Supercars pole and race wins, it was a tough two-event New Zealand swing for the second Supra squad.
Heimgartner and teammates Cameron Hill and Macauley Jones ended up 12th, 17th and 21st in the Jason Richards Trophy standings respectively.
Its struggle appeared to hit a zenith on Sunday morning when all three cars were eliminated in Q1, with Heimgartner its best performer in 20th.
Although racing forward to bank a solid eighth-place finish, Heimgartner labelled it “another difficult day”.
“Got a top 10 from it but overall, sort of still finding our feet,” surmised the Kiwi, who was very much in the shadow of countryman Ryan Wood and Matt Payne.
“We haven’t quite hit our happy spot with the car, and we’re sort of moving problems around a bit.
“Looking forward to resetting, having a bit of a break and then getting into Tasmania where we can hopefully find our mojo again.”
Heimgartner had been 13th, 23rd (six laps down after an early tangle) and 15th (having nursed an engine issue throughout) in the earlier races.
Hill labelled Friday as “one of my worst days at the track”, which started with an engine problem striking just minutes into the single practice session.
Things only got worse from there as he was involved in a three-wide squeeze with teammate Jones and David Reynolds at the start of the afternoon’s race.
Hill failed to finish the second race after a tangle involving Jobe Stewart and Reynolds, before salvaging a 16th and a 12th from the final two heats.
“There’s a lot to analyse in the break,” said Hill.
“It’s been a tough two weeks, but we’ll bounce back.”
Jones was 22nd, 18th, 23rd and 16th across the four races, noting he “struggled a little bit with the balance all weekend and couldn’t really get on top of it.”
Heimgartner remains BJR’s lead driver in the championship in 13th, 162 points shy of the Finals cut-off that he narrowly missed in 2025, while Hill sits 15th and Jones 19th.
The Supercars season continues with the Tasmania Super440 on May 22-24 – an event where BJR last year announced its Toyota switch for 2026.
This article first appeared on Speedcafe.com, a sister site to MotorRacing.com.
