Andre Heimgartner finally has a Supercars race win in the dry. The Brad Jones Racing pilot converted pole position into a controlled lights-to-flag victory in Race 15 of the Tyrepower Tasmania Super 440, banishing the asterisk that had hung over his previous wins in wet conditions, including his most recent triumph at Taupo in 2024.
The Symmons Plains result is doubly significant. It marks BJR's first race win with the all-new R&J Batteries Toyota Supra introduced for the 2026 season, and it coincides with the 100th championship race at the Tasmanian circuit, an event dating back to 1969 that has crowned generations of Australian motorsport heroes from Allan Moffat to the late Peter Brock.
Heimgartner launched cleanly from the outside of the front row alongside Brock Feeney, who jumped from the second row to slot into second by turn one. Feeney piled the pressure on through the early laps and even briefly slipped alongside the Toyota Supra into the right-hand sweeper at turn five, but Heimgartner defended firmly into the braking zone at turn six and never gave the championship leader another credible look.
The race's defining incident arrived in the second stint. Reigning Race 14 winner Chaz Mostert was already serving a 15-second time penalty for contact with Jaden Ojeda at turn six when Dave Reynolds locked up hard into the turn-four hairpin and centre-punched Brodie Kostecki, with Ryan Wood caught up at the same moment.
"That's a much longer run home for David Reynolds," came the commentary as the Snow River Caravans Camaro emerged with a damaged splitter pointing skyward and the rear diffuser sparking along the tarmac. Kostecki's car was visibly hobbled, the Erebus Camaro losing chunks of straight-line speed and a rear tyre rubbing the bodywork.
Penrite Racing rolled the dice with Matt Payne by running a two-tyre strategy on the compulsory stop, an aggressive call the team had used to claim victory at the same venue with Payne in 2025. It put him squarely in second after the cycle but exposed him to Feeney closing in on four fresh tyres. Feeney eventually made the move, with Anton De Pasquale of Team 18 looming as a podium threat thanks to clear air after an early stop on lap 14.
The early gamble of the day belonged to Kai Allen, who pitted on lap 14 in his Grove Racing Mustang. Commentary had warned the long run home would be brutal on the super-soft tyre, but the 30-year-old Kiwi held on inside the top six as he started the final lap.
For Heimgartner, the celebrations at BJR began with hugs in the garage well before the chequered flag, the team confident that strong strategy work and clean pit stops had delivered every advantage. "They've given their man every opportunity to do something very, very special," the broadcast noted as he embarked on his final lap.
With Toyota now off the mark in its debut Supercars season and Heimgartner finally winning under blue skies, the historic Symmons Plains weekend has rewritten the championship narrative heading into the next round.
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