Motorsport: Andre Heimgartner claims first career Supercars victory in South Australia

Andre Heimgartner wins his first Supercars race. Photo / Photosport

Kiwi Andre Heimgartner claimed his first Supercars win in 161 races with victory at The Bend in South Australia today.

Starting from pole for just the second time, the 25-year-old was peerless in both wet and dry conditions, guiding his Mustang to Ford's first win since September 2020.

The result was Heimgartner's best following two previous second placings and two thirds.

He didn't make it easy, serving a time penalty for a pit lane infringement after colliding with Jamie Whincup but had enough of a lead not to be denied a first victory since making his debut at Bathurst in 2014.

"It was awesome," Heimgartner said.

"I'm just really, really over the moon. It's been way too long – I've finally got it off my back."

On the penalty, Heimgartner explained, "They never told me; I knew.

"When we had contact I was like, 'Oh geez, that just made it a lot harder for myself,' and I knew I had to get five seconds.

"On the last lap it was 4.5s [spare] so I just knew but they didn't tell me."

Andre Heimgartner on his way to victory. Photo / Getty

Behind Heimgartner on the podium was Walkinshaw's Chaz Mostert and fellow Ford driver, Shell V-Power's Anton De Pasquale.

Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen finished seventh, behind Red Bull teammate Jamie Whincup.

Having soared to third from eighth on the opening lap, van Gisbergen dropped down the order after a drama in his pit stop.

Van Gisbergen lost nearly 10 seconds as a pit crew member struggled to reach the car with the air spike coupling.

His championship lead over Whincup is now 140 points, after van Gisbergen recorded the fastest lap of the race to win a bonus point.

The drive of the day went to Brad Jones Racing's Nick Percat, who started last on the grid, and after rolling the dice and staying out on used tyres as long as possible, ended up fourth at the end of the race.