Andre Heimgartner has won the opening race of the weekend at Round 2 of the BNT V8s at Taupo this afternoon.

Heimgartner was chased home by his Richards Team Motorsport teammate, Australian Jason Bargwanna, with fellow countryman Jack Smith in third.

Starting from pole, Heimgartner was largely unchallenged during the race, holding his lead through turn one with Bargwanna slipping by Smith and settling into second. The trio remained one, two, three for the remainder of the race.

From there, Heimgartner controlled the pace and went on to win the 12-lap encounter.

Liam Lawson will be in Arizona next weekend among a 20-strong international driver line-up, all vying for the $US200,000 Mazda Road To Indy Scholarship prize package.

Having finished her rookie season fourth in points, class two competitor Chelsea Herbert sits in third place after round one of the 2017/18 BNT V8 season and her goal moving forward is for more consistency.

The championship battle in the BNT V8s gets underway at Taupo again this weekend, and following the opening round at Pukekohe, Australian driver Jason Bargwanna leads the points table having taken the round one win.