AMBROSE TAKES BACK TITLE LEAD
10/5/2004 0:24 (Press Release) -
Stone Brothers Racing’s Marcos Ambrose regained the lead in the V8 Supercar Championship Series when he finished second outright in round three at the PlaceMakers V8 International at Pukekohe in New Zealand today.
Ambrose won the opening race and finished third in the remaining two races in his Pirtek Falcon to be second overall behind Jason Bright.
There were three races today after yesterday’s opening 36-lap race was postponed because of shocking weather conditions which had flooded the track in different sections. Each of the races was reduced to a 36-lap contest without any pit stops.
Ambrose’s teammate Russell Ingall produced a solid result in his Caltex Havoline Falcon, but could have finished a little higher if he had not been turned around in the opening race by John Bowe.
Ingall finished seventh overall for the weekend and jumped from 11th to seventh in the championship standings.
RACE 1 – REPORT
The race started on a wet, but drying track. Some of the field actually elected to start on slicks, but the majority started on wets, including Ambrose and Ingall.
Ambrose got a blinding start in his Pirtek Falcon and was basically never headed.
Pole sitter Mark Skaife dropped three places on the opening lap and was then forced to pit (for slicks) when he spun after an incident with Steve Richards – he eventually finished 16th.
Ingall got a reasonable start, but spun at the hairpin in the opening lap after being hit from behind by John Bowe. Ingall was lucky to avoid being hit by on-coming traffic and rejoined the field in 24th place.
Ingall drove the wheels of his Caltex Havoline Falcon and was as high as 11th by lap 26 – he eventually finished 12th after being passed by Craig Baird on the final lap, who had started the race on slicks.
The former two-time Bathurst winner drove with the pace of the leaders for the majority of the race.
Ambrose built on his lead lap after lap and eventually took the chequered flag by 8.2 seconds from Jason Bright and Paul Radisich in a race which had plenty of incidents, but amazingly, no safety car periods.
RACE 2 - REPORT
Ambrose did not get a good start and was third behind Jason Bright and Greg Murphy at the end of lap one and that was basically how the race continued for 36 laps.
In the meantime Ingall made some great early progress in his Caltex Havoline Falcon and was seventh by the end of lap seven.
On lap 11 a safety was bought out after Warren Luff was basically run off the road by an out of control Mark Porter at turn three.
The race restarted four laps later, but the positions basically stayed the same for the remainder of the race with Ambrose chasing Bright and Murphy to the line and Ingall unable to get past Paul Weel.
The race was contested in dry conditions and both SBR cars escaped without any panel damage. The result also gave Ambrose back the championship leader over Steve Richards by two points.
RACE 3 – REPORT
Race three was very similar to the second race in many respects, including the weather which was overcast, but dry. Ambrose slotted into third behind Bright and Murphy at the start, while Ingall maintained his spot in seventh.
Ambrose made a great move on Murphy coming on to the back straight on lap seven and won the drag race out of the corner. Ambrose managed to grab a bit of a gap, but did not have the car speed to catch Bright.
Murphy eventually grabbed back second place after a move coming out of the hairpin on lap 33.
Ingall kept the points clicking over by again finishing seventh behind Bright’s teammate Paul Weel, despite having a wet set-up on his car.
WHAT MARCOS AMBROSE HAD TO SAY…..
“In the first race I got a great start and just settled into a grove from there,” said Ambrose.
“They car was great even as the track dried out and the conditions changed.
“In the second race I missed the start and let a couple past me and I think we also missed the set-up a little bit.
“Race three was pretty similar. There was plenty of guessing as to what the weather would do, in fact, we were changing springs up until 10 minutes before the race.
“I had a good battle with ‘Murph’ and in the end it was good to finish with out best result here and regain the lead in the championship.
“After the rain we had yesterday, today’s races were always going to be a bit of a lottery. If you had put one wheel off the track you could find yourself up against the fence – which a couple of drivers found out.
“With the way the points system is, you need to be consistent and keep scoring points and we managed to do that this weekend.”
WHAT RUSSELL INGALL HAD TO SAY
“Although we jumped four places in the championship standings, it was a frustrating weekend,” said Ingall.
“Not qualifying in the top five really hurt us for the remainder of the weekend.
“We started too far back down the grid and as a result we got caught up with some less favourable drivers and got turned around. From then on it was always going to be tough.
“We had the pace in race one, but we used it up passing blokes who started behind us.
“In the final race we gambled on a wet set up and the rain did not come.
“The key for the weekend is qualifying and I am determined to get that sorted out before the next round.”
RACE 1 – PLACEMAKERS V8 INTERNATIONAL
1: Marcos Ambrose (Ford) – 36 laps
2: Jason Bright (Holden)
3: Paul Radisich (Ford)
4: Greg Murphy (Holden)
5: Max Wilson (Ford)
6: Steve Richards (Holden)
7: Rick Kelly (Holden)
8: Craig Lowndes (Holden)
9: Craig Baird (Holden)
10: John Bowe (Ford)
11: Paul Weel (Holden)
12: Russell Ingall (Ford)
13: Steve Johnson (Ford)
14: Jason Richards (Holden)
15: Simon Wills (Holden)
16: Mark Skaife (Holden)
17: Todd Kelly (Holden)
18: Steve Ellery (Ford)
19: Cameron McConville (Holden)
20: Brad Jones (Ford)
21: Paul Morris (Holden)
22: Anthony Tratt (Holden) – 35 laps
23: David Besnard (Ford)
24: Warren Luff (Ford)
25: Mark Winterbottom (Ford)
26: Tony Longhurst (Holden)
27: Jason Bargwanna (Ford)
28: Garth Tander ! (Holden)
29: Glenn Seton (Ford)
30: Paul Dumbrell (Holden) – 34 laps
31: Dale Brede (Holden)
32: Mark Porter (Holden)
RACE 2 – PLACEMAKERS V8 INTERNATIONAL
1: Jason Bright (Holden) – 36 laps
2: Greg Murphy (Holden)
3: Marcos Ambrose (Ford)
4: Rick Kelly (Holden)
5: Steve Richards (Holden)
6: Paul Weel (Holden)
7: Russell Ingall (Ford)
8: Steve Johnson (Ford)
9: Jason Richards (Holden)
10: Todd Kelly (Holden)
11: Garth Tander (Holden)
12: Simon Wills (Holden)
13: Tony Longhurst (Ford)
14: Mark Winterbottom (Ford)
15: Paul Morris (Holden)
16: Paul Radisich (Ford)
17: Craig Baird (Holden)
18: Cameron McConville (Holden)
19: Anthony Tratt (Holden)
20: Brad Jones (Ford)
21: Glenn Seton (Ford)
22: John Bowe (Ford)
23: David Besnard (Ford)
24: Paul Dumbrell (Holden)
25: Mark Porter (Holden)26: Steve Ellery (Ford) – 35 laps
27: Warren Luff (Ford) – 33 laps
28: Max Wilson (Ford) – 29 laps
28: Craig Lowndes (Ford) – 28 laps
DNF: Dale Brede (Holden) – 26 laps
DNF: Jason Bargwanna (Ford) – 17 laps
DNF: Mark Skaife (Holden) – 9 laps
RACE 3 – PLACEMAKERS V8 INTERNATIONAL
1: Jason Bright (Holden) – 36 laps
2: Greg Murphy (Holden)
3: Marcos Ambrose (Ford)
4: Steve Richards (Holden)
5: Rick Kelly (Holden)
6: Paul Weel (Holden)
7: Russell Ingall (Ford)
8: Steve Johnson (Ford)
9: Jason Richards (Holden)
10: Garth Tander (Holden)
11: Paul Radisich (Ford)
12: John Bowe (Ford)
13: Tony Longhurst (Holden)
14: Todd Kelly (Holden)
15: Simon Wills (Holden)
16: Anthony Tratt (Holden)
17: Max Wilson (Ford)
18: Brad Jones (Ford)
19: Mark Skaife (Holden)
20: Craig Baird (Holden)
21: Jason! Bargwanna (Ford)
22: Glenn Seton (Ford)
23: Warren Luff (Ford)
24: Steve Ellery (Ford)
25: David Besnard (Ford)
26: Cameron McConville (Holden)
27: Paul Dumbrell (Holden)
28: Mark Porter (Holden)
29: Dale Brede (Holden) – 35 laps
DNF: Paul Morris (Holden) – 33 laps
DNF: Craig Lowndes (Ford) – 32 laps
DNF: Mark Winterbottom (Ford) – 14 laps
ROUND 3 POINTS OVERALL
1: Jason Bright 190
2: Marcos Ambrose 184
3: Greg Murphy 182
4: Steve Richards 168
5: Rick Kelly 166
6: Paul Weel 152
7: Russell Ingall 146
8: Steve Johnson 140
9: Paul Radisich 138
10: Jason Richards 134
2004 CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (After round 3 of 13)
1: Marcos Ambrose 532
2: Steve Richards 528
3: Greg Murphy 509
4: Rick Kelly 502
5: Jason Bright 457
6: Craig Baird 364
7: Russell Ingall 350
8: Paul Weel 3479: Steve Johnson 341
10: John Bowe 326
11: Paul Morris 324
12: Garth Tander 322
13: Jason Bargwanna 306
14: Paul Radisich 294
15: Todd Kelly 269
16: Mark Skaife 254
17: David Besnard 254
18: Craig Lowndes 244
19: Max Wilson 236
20: Mark Winterbottom 234
* The next round of the championship will be in Darwin on May 21-23.
Release Date: 02/05/2004
Stone Brothers Racing
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