Ingall Fastest at Eastern Creek
4/4/2004 8:36 (Press Release) -
Stone Brothers Racing’s Russell Ingall set the fastest time by almost 0.4 of a second during practice for the second round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Eastern Creek in Sydney today.
Ingall clocked a time of 1:32.5459 around the 3.43km circuit in his Caltex Havoline Falcon to tip out old rival Mark Skaife into second by 0.3832 of a second.
Ingall’s SBR teammate Marcos Ambrose remained in the top 10 for the entire session and finally settled for eighth after experimenting with older tyres.
“We made a change in that last bit of the session and it was like night and day,” said Ingall.
“To be almost 0.4 of a second quicker than the next bloke is a pretty good deal.
“Today’s time was quite a bit quicker than my qualifying time here last year and we did it on old tyres.
“The 90-minute practice sessions are a pretty good idea and give you plenty of time to make changes and play with the car.
“I think today’s session was one of the best practice sessions I have ever had.
“It was unfortunate that we had a DNF in the second race in Adelaide, but we are determined to fight back.
“We just need to keep our heads down and make sure we come out of here with some decent points.”
Ambrose also made several changes during the session and knows there is plenty left in his Pirtek Falcon.
“We experimented a bit with the tyres we had,” said Ambrose.
“It would have been nice to be a bit further up the time sheets, but we will worry about that tomorrow.
“Russell’s time was obviously very good so we will compare set-ups overnight and look at what moves we make for tomorrow.
“We have had a pretty good run at Eastern Creek in recent races here, but I think today shows just how competitive this series is and that you cannot discount anyone.”
FRIDAY PRACTICE TIMES
1: Russell Ingall (Ford) 1:32.5459
2: Mark Skaife (Holden) 1:32.9291
3: Jason Bright (Holden) 1:32.9527
4: Steve Richards (Holden) 1: 33.0607
5: John Bowe (Ford) 1:33.2793
6: Paul Morris (Holden) 1:33.3672
7: David Besnard (Ford) 1:33.3827
8: Marcos Ambrose (Ford) 1:33.3950
9: Paul Radisich (Ford) 1:33.4343
10: Simon Wills (Holden) 1:33.5040
Release Date: 02/04/2004
Stone Brothers Racing
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