Both SBR cars in top five at Winton
14/8/2004 14:55 (Press Release) -
Stone Brothers Racing’s Marcos Ambrose and Russell Ingall will start from fourth and fifth respectively in the seventh round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Winton Motor Raceway in North-East Victoria tomorrow.
Ambrose was third after official qualifying in his Pirtek Falcon, but dropped a spot in the shootout, while Ingall elevated himself from 10th to fifth in the Caltex Havoline Ford on his one-lap flyer which was run in wet conditions.
Pole for tomorrow’s race has been taken by former SBR driver Craig Baird, who will start from the number one spot for the first time in his V8 Supercar career.
Ambrose leads the championship from Steve Richards, Jason Bright, Rick Kelly and Greg Murphy. Bright will start from eighth tomorrow while the other three, who all use Winton as their test track, failed to qualify in the top 20.
“I don’t really know what happened in the shootout,” said Ambrose.
“The last four or five guys went slower in their runs so I am not sure if the track had anything to do with that.
“We have to congratulate ‘Bairdo’ (Craig Baird) on a great lap and claiming his first pole. He has been battling away for a few years and really deserves the break.
“We really had a good day overall with the Pirtek Falcon.
“The car was pretty consistent and everyone else fighting with us for the championship had average days, except (Jason) Bright.
“We just need to ensure we get a solid start tomorrow and go on with the job.
“There is no doubt that 300km around Winton will require plenty of concentration, especially if the rain continues to fall.”
Ingall sits sixth in the championship, but is only three points behind Murphy and is hoping to leapfrog him with a big result in tomorrow’s 100-lap mini-enduro.
“In the actual qualifying session we certainly had some problems,” said Ingall.
“We were lucky to scrape into the top 10 because of our handling issues
“We made several changes before the shootout and the car was like night and day.
“I drove a fairly conservative lap in the conditions and while I don’t think I would have had the pace of Craig Baird, I think we maybe could have been on the front row if I had of pushed it a bit more.
“The plan is to try and pick up a couple of places at the start tomorrow and then maybe a couple of more thanks to SBR’s lightening pit stops.
“Hopefully we should be somewhere near the lead by mid-race and go on from there.
“That’s the plan, but we have a long day ahead of us, especially if the conditions are as tough as they were today.”
TOP 10 SHOOTOUT
1: Craig Baird (Holden) 1:39.75
2: Garth Tander (Holden) 1:40.14
3: Steve Johnson (Ford) 1:40.80
4: Marcos Ambrose (Ford) 1:40.92
5: Russell Ingall (Ford) 1:41.07
6: Mark Skaife (Holden) 1:41.22
7: Craig Lowndes (Ford) 1:41.26
8: Jason Bright (Holden) 1:41.5280
9: Jason Bargwanna (Ford) 1:41.5283
10: Cameron McConville (Holden) 1:42.00
QUALIFYING
1: Mark Skaife (Holden) 1:38.1434
2: Jason Bargwanna (Ford) 1:38.65709
3: Marcos Ambrose (Ford) 1:38.4886
4: Craig Lowndes (Ford) 1:38.8290
5: Craig Baird (Holden) 1:38.9495
6: Garth Tander (Holden) 1:38.9551
7: Jason Bright (Holden) 1:39.4442
8: Steven Johnson (Ford) 1:39.4800
9: Cameron McConville (Holden) 1:39.4851
10: Russell Ingall (Ford) 1:39.5184
11: Paul Weel ! (Holden) 1:39.6115
12: David Besnard (Ford) 1:39.7006
13: Tony Longhurst (Holden) 1:39.7611
14: Warren Luff (Ford) 1:39.8008
15: John Bowe (Ford) 1:39.8351
16: Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 1:39.9148
17: Paul Morris (Holden) 1:39.9676
18: Paul Dumbrell (Holden) 1:39.9989
19: Mark Noske (Ford) 1:40.0098
20: Jason Richards (Holden) 1:40.0486
21: Steve Richards (Holden) 1:40.1386
22: Todd Kelly (Holden) 1:40.1510
23: Simon Wills (Holden) 1:40.4858
24: Max Wilson (Ford) 1:40.5923
25: Rick Kelly (Holden) 1:40.6630
26: Brad Jones (Ford) 1:40.6965
27: Steve Ellery (Ford) 1:40.7479
28: Anthony Tratt (Holden) 1:40.7974
29: Dale Brede (Holden) 1:41.1693
30: Will Davison (Holden) 1:41.1806
31: Glenn Seton (Ford) 1:41.2357
32: Paul Radisich (Ford) 1:41.5136
33: Greg Murphy (Holden) 1:43.1001
34: Garth Walden (F! ord) 1:45.8510
35: David Krause (Holden) 1:50.5941
TRACK FACTS – WINTON – ROUND 7
Winton Motor Raceway - Benalla, VIC
July 23-25, 2004
Track Length: 3.00 km
Avg Speed: 129 kph
Max Speed: 240 kph
Round Format: 1 X 300km race
2003 result – 1st Marcos Ambrose, 2nd Jason Bright, 3rd Steven Richards
Qualifying Record: Jason Bright (Holden Commodore, 2002) 1:22.6618
Lap Record: Jason Bright (Holden Commodore, 2002) 1:23.1514
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1: Marcos Ambrose 1064
2: Steven Richards 1006
3: Jason Bright 951
4: Rick Kelly 924
5: Greg Murphy 811
6: Russell Ingall 808
7: Garth Tander 780
8: Todd Kelly 741
9: John Bowe 638
10: Steven Johnson 597
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Sunday 25 July
10:10am – 10:30am Warm Up
1:00pm - Race (100 laps)
TV TELECAST – NETWORK TEN
Sunday – July 25, 2004
1.30pm-2.30pm – RPM
2.30pm-5pm – Round 7 V8 Supercar Championship Series
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