ANDRÉ Heimgartner might have put a line through his name in the Supercars finals race after Townsville, but his team boss isn’t ready to wave the white flag.
The #8 Supra driver last month declared a race-ending engine failure had “killed my finals hopes”, at that stage dropping him 175 points below the provisional cut line.
Uninspiring Perth Super440 results for Jack Le Brocq and James Golding however have kept the chasing pack interested, with Heimgartner beating both in all three races at Wanneroo.
That’s suddenly closed his deficit to 128 points with up to 915 still in play during the ‘regular season’.
Brad Jones told V8 Sleuth he hasn’t lost hope of getting his lead car into finals, after Heimgartner missed last year’s playoffs by the narrowest of margins.
“It will be all about the enduros, how we go there,” said Jones.
“But he’s made up a reasonable amount of points on Jack. We’ll just wait and see.
“I never give up.”
BJR continues to play the waiting game on announcing its enduro co-drivers, but it’s very much anticipated Heimgartner will be joined by Bryce Fullwood for The Bend 500 and Bathurst 1000.
Jones was also keen to make mention of the productive alliance his outfit is enjoying with Toyota homologation team Walkinshaw TWG Racing.
“The relationship we have with Walkinshaw is really, really good,” he said.
“They’re great to work with and happy to share anything, as we are with them.
“I couldn’t speak more highly of the interaction between the teams, it’s really good – in fact, better than I have experienced anywhere else.”
Queensland Raceway will host the final Sprint Cup round of the season on August 21-23.
Brad and Macauley Jones. Pic: Supplied/Pace Images