André Heimgartner has had a strong day at the OTR SuperSprint concluding with a fifth place finish in this afternoon’s race. André was able to proceed through all three qualifying sessions with quick times, ultimately qualifying in sixth place.
André was then able to execute a controlled and measured race in the #7 Plus Fitness Racing Nissan. He picked up a spot on the start before settling into fifth place for the rest of the race.
Rick Kelly unfortunately had a scuffle early on in the race which resulted in him receiving a drive-through penalty, putting him on the back foot for the remainder of the race. The car had the race pace to be much higher in the order than Rick’s qualifying position so it was a disappointing result.
Simona De Silvestro got caught up in the aftermath of Rick’s contact and a wrong-place-wrong-time contact put and early end to her race.
Garry Jacobson struggled to replicate the pace he showed in practice three during qualifying but turned it around for the race and picked up five spots by getting the start right and keeping out of trouble for the remainder of the 24-lap sprint around The Bend Motorsport Park.
Kelly Racing Team quotes
Andre Heimgartner, Plus Fitness Racing #7
« I got a good start to today’s race and of course it always helps when you’re in a good position to start with. The car has been really good all day, we were able to qualify P6 and then in the race it didn’t burn up its tyres too much and we were able to just chip away at it throughout the whole race. I think we were probably quicker than Frosty in front, I was right behind him for most of the race so it would have been nice to have got him on strategy but we just played it safe, overall really good day and good points for the team. »
Garry Jacobson, Rabble.club Racing #3
« It was disappointing for qualifying because in Practice Three the lap time that we achieved would have been pretty competitive so if I could have replicated that in qualifying tomorrow that would be really positive. With the changes we made today between practice and qualifying we just lost a lot of speed. As for the race, I think I got the best start I’ve had all year, I think I gained like four spots on the start so that helped a lot and was sitting around P17 for a while and had Tom Randle in the Mustang behind me and was able to hold him back for about five laps but in doing that I burnt up my tyres overdriving the car, in terms of strategy that wasn’t the smartest thing to do but I wanted to try race him and see what we had compared to them. »
Rick Kelly, Castrol Racing #15
« We missed the mark in qualifying for sure, unfortunately we had a really good car yesterday but today the track is that different that we didn’t change it enough for today which put us a little further back than we would have liked. I had a good start to the race, but with that penalty, as we know I’m always the first one to put my hand up when I think I’m completely to blame and I’m really surprised by having a drive-through penalty for that. I got underneath Courtney and I need to look at everything because I’ve only got my perspective inside the car, but I was at his B-pillar when he closed down on me and there was contact. Obviously the aftermath after that contact between other cars wasn’t pretty but I am really gobsmacked that we got a drive-through for that. Maybe they know something I don’t but I even had Wil Davison’s guys come down and they thought it was a racing incident as well. So all in all, pretty frustrated by the decision. »
Simona De Silvestro, Team Harvey Norman #78
« It’s a bit frustrating for sure because I think our car is really strong, we had a really good result in qualifying and got a good start to the race. The whole weekend we’ve been really good and had strong pace, mid-pack and up there, so while it was good to show that in qualifying in the race it was just wrong place, wrong time. It’s definitely a bit annoying because I think we could have had a pretty strong race, but these things happen and you can’t get too worked up about it because it is what it is and luckily we have another shot at it tomorrow so we know we’re pretty quick so looking forward to having another go tomorrow. »
Press release Kelly Racing
]]>
