Andre Heimgartner is gearing up for a final fight at Round 11 of the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship. The last of four rounds at Sydney Motorsport Park, the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight sees two longer evening races, with new tyre, fuel and pit stop requirements to mix up the format for the last lap of Western Sydney circuit.
Each race will be 64 laps totalling 250km, double the distance of the sprint races held over the previous three weekends. The longer race duration includes a mandated fuel stop, meaning fuel loads will factor into pit stop times, affecting track position and also lap times as fuel loads change.
“I think the longer races will be cool, something different, and the different tyres and fuel – it will be interesting to see how the weekend goes,” Andre said. “A Safety Car could throw a spanner in the works, and I think it’s going to be wet as well, anyway, so that’s going to mix it up a bit.”
Each competitor will have to take on a minimum of 140 litres of fuel during their stop, with varying fuel loads across the field also impacting tyre performance. The changes mean this weekend’s format throws up the most variables at Sydney Motorsport Park so far, setting up a thrilling contest.
“I think it’s going to be a good weekend. We really had to reset after last weekend. We made some changes, but they didn’t really work, and at the last race it was even worse unfortunately. It was just one of those things – we just sort of went the wrong way. We wanted to change it because we weren’t 100 percent happy with how it was on the Saturday.”
If each race is not declared officially ‘wet’, teams will be mandated to use each of the two tyre compounds provided by Dunlop and change at least two tyres during the compulsory pit stop. The more durable hard tyre and the faster super-soft have been chosen and must carry teams through both races and qualifying.
The grid for each race will be set via an all-in session before a Top Ten Shootout, with Andre’s improved pace over the past rounds showing he has the pace to get into the top ten.
“If it’s wet, there’s no reason we can’t make the shootouts. We qualified in the top five both times [at Sydney Motorsport Park] when it was wet, so we’ll give it a good go,” Heimgartner said.
The final race ahead of the 2021 Repco Bathurst 1000, this weekend will also include a specific practice session for co-drivers. Andre will be driving the #7 Ned Racing Mustang at Mount Panorama in December with factory Porsche driver and former Bathurst 12-hour winner, Matt Campbell, who’ll be on track in Sydney for Friday’s 30-minute co-driver session fresh from winning the GTLM Petite Le Mans at Road Atlanta, USA.
The 2021 Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight kicks off this Friday November 19 with co-driver practice at 4:40pm. Heimgartner will hit the track practice at 7:45pm Friday evening. Tickets are available via https://www.supercars.com, with live coverage on Foxtel and live streaming on Kayo Sports.
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