Andre Heimgartner

Andre Heimgartner
Andre Heimgartner in 2015
Nationality	New Zealander
Born	8 June 1995 (1995-06-08) (age 29) Auckland, New Zealand
Racing licence	FIA Gold
Previous series
2010-12 2011 2009-13 2017-18	Formula Ford New Zealand Formula Ford Australia V8SuperTourer NZ Touring Cars Championship
Championship titles
2010–11 2011–12 2017–18	Formula Ford New Zealand Formula Ford New Zealand NZ Touring Cars Championship
Awards
2012 2015	Australian Porsche scholarship to Europe Bruce McLaren Trophy
Supercars Championship career
Car number	8
Current team	Brad Jones Racing
Championships	0
Races	272
Wins	2
Podiums	17
Pole positions	2
2023 position	7th (2016 pts)

Andre Emil Heimgartner (born 8 June 1995) is a New Zealand motor-racing driver who currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 ^[1] for Brad Jones Racing.

Career

Formula racing

At 12 years of age commenced racing in the NZ Formula Vee championship. Heimgartner became the youngest driver in the world to win a Formula Ford Championship at the age of fifteen when he won the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship during the 2010–11 season. He returned to successfully defend his title for the 2011–12 season whilst contesting selected events in the 2011 Australian Formula Ford Championship. 2013 Selected races in Australian Formula 3.

Touring cars

New Zealand

In 2012, Heimgartner entered the inaugural season of the New Zealand-based V8SuperTourer series, driving a Holden VE Commodore run by AV8 Motorsport.^[2] He finished the sprint championship in tenth place overall, achieving a best result of fourth place at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park; and seventh place in the endurance championship, with his best finish being fifth place in the Fathers' Day 400 at Taupo Motorsport Park. He was classified eleventh overall at the end of the season.

Moving from AV8 Motorsport to the Melbourne Performance Centre and then Motorsport Networks teams during a four-season period. Heimgartner went on to become the only driver to compete in every race of the championship over the 4-year period. Achieving 15 podium finishes.

Australia

Parallel to his appearances in the V8Supertourer category in 2012, Heimgartner contested the Australia-based Porsche Carrera Cup series at the age of 16. Andre ran as high as 4th for much of the season before a no fault contact by a competitor caused a DNF. 2013 Dunlop V8 Supercar Series, driving an ex-Dick Johnson Racing Ford FG Falcon entered by Finance EZI Racing, which entered Heimgartner alongside Josh Hunter as the team's drivers.^[3] In 2014 Andre drove for Matt White in the supercar Dunlop series with 3 podium finishes.

Also in 2013 saw Andre's first drive in a V8 Supercars Holden Commodore VF. Due to his close association with Paul Morris he got to do co-driver laps in Dean Fiore's No. 88 Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport entry at Queensland Raceway replacing Matt Halliday in the dedicated co-driver session.^[4]

In 2014, Heimgartner was selected to race the Super Black Racing wildcard entry at the 2014 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 alongside fellow Kiwi Ant Pedersen.^[5] Following this performance the team retained him in the teams' full-time category début the following season. 2015 was a formative year for the new Superblack team and was plagued by performance inconsistencies. A best qualifying position of 3rd and numerous top 10 finishes for the 2015 season.^[6] Andre's second year in Supercars and severe budget constraints lead to relocation to the minnow LDM team, car performance and reliability issues produced disappointing results.

Endurance racing

In 2013, Heimgartner contested the Bathurst 12 Hour event at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales. Sharing a BMW 335i with co-drivers Anthony Gilbertson and Peter O'Donnell, Heimgartner finished the race first in his class.^[7] In NZ Heimgartner as a 14-year-old won the Mini Challenge 3-hour endurance classic. As a 16-year-old driving ab RSR Porsche while leading the field by 15 laps suffered a terminal mechanical issue 10 minutes from the chequered flag. Achieved various successes in endurance competition driving GT3 Porsches for Fastway and Hood. Competed in 2 seasons of V8 Supertourer endurance competition with Paul Morris as co-driver.

By February 2018 Andre had completed 4 consecutive Bathurst 1000 endurance events with a best placing of 9th.

Personal life

Heimgartner is currently engaged to Jewelry Designer Jemma Boskovich.^[8] He was in a relationship with Renee Gracie between 2014 and 2017.

Racing record

Career results

Supercars Championship results

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Car	Co-driver	Position	Laps
2014	Super Black Racing	Ford Falcon FG	Ant Pedersen	11th	161
2015	Super Black Racing	Ford Falcon FG X	Ant Pedersen	DNF	35
2016	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	Holden Commodore VF	Aaren Russell	DNF	114
2017	Brad Jones Racing	Holden Commodore VF	Tim Slade Ashley Walsh‡	9th	161
2018	Nissan Motorsport	Nissan Altima L33	Aaren Russell	16th	161
2019	Kelly Racing	Nissan Altima L33	Bryce Fullwood	DNF	157
2020	Kelly Racing	Ford Mustang S550	Dylan O'Keeffe	11th	161
2021	Kelly Grove Racing	Ford Mustang S550	Matthew Campbell	NC	159
2022	Brad Jones Racing	Holden Commodore ZB	Dale Wood	DNF	4
2023	Brad Jones Racing	Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	Dale Wood	DNF	68
2024	Brad Jones Racing	Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	Declan Fraser

‡Walsh was entered as a co-driver to Slade but withdrew and was replaced with Heimgartner.

References

External links

• Official Webpage
• Andre Heimgartner career summary at DriverDB.com
• Andre Heimgartner driver statistics at Racing-Reference