Ambrose wins and Ingall equal third at Oran Park
16/8/2004 12:16 (Press Release) -
Stone Brothers Racing’s Marcos Ambrose won the eighth round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series in his Pirtek Falcon at Oran Park Raceway in Sydney today.
Ambrose was second in the opening 54-lap race after starting from position five and then won race two after leading from start to finish.
The Gold Coast-based Tasmanian finished on equal points with Mark Skaife, but was awarded the win because he finished higher in the second race.
Ambrose’s SBR team mate Russell Ingall also had an impressive day in his Caltex Havoline Falcon with a third in race one and fourth in race two to finish on equal points with Jason Bright – Bright took the place on the podium because he also finished higher in the second race.
Today’s win was the 11th in 47 V8 Supercar starts for Ambrose and places him second in the championship – 13 points behind Bright.
Ingall maintains fifth place in the championship, just 35 points behind Rick Kelly, and well and truly keeps his title hopes alive with five rounds remaining – including the following two endurance races at Sandown (September 10-12) and Bathurst (October 8-10).
“It really has been a great day for us,” said Ambrose. “We made it hard for ourselves on Friday and Saturday before qualifying.
“We took a bit of a hit at Winton in the last round and had to get a good result here. We really had a hard race with Mark (Skaife) and were pushing hard 100 per cent in both races.
“We were pushing flat out to pass traffic and eventually got there. I was worried this morning, starting from grid five, but we got through that alright.
“Starts are very important and I got a couple of good ones today.
“Once we did our pit stop cycle in race two I had a four of five second buffer and that helped us.
“Traffic was generally was pretty good, but there was plenty of it. I am now looking forward to different formats at Sandown and Bathurst.
“All I can do is win races, if the championship comes my way I will take it with open arms.”
Ingall was also very pleased with the day’s end result.
“To finish where we did was pretty pleasing,” said Ingall. “I managed to grab a few spots with my pit stop in the first race and then drove on to grab a few more.
“The first set of tyres we had in the second race was basically the worst set we had, but we had to make do. I locked up twice going into turn one which is always an ‘interesting’ position to be in.
“This track is probably the most tyre sensitive in the series and I really think we need more than 10 tyres here for the weekend.
“I damaged one tyre in qualifying pretty badly, which did not help. We saw people moving up and down the time sheets during the race, but it was all due to tyres and it shouldn’t be that way.
“It was great to grab as many points as we did this weekend, but it would have been nice to have finished on the podium for Caltex and Ford.
“I am now looking forward to the long distance races and keeping our championship hopes alive.”
* The next round of the championship will be the Betta Electrical Sandown 500 in Melbourne on September 10-12.
RACE 2 RESULTS
1: Marcos Ambrose (Ford) – 54 Laps
2: Mark Skaife (Holden)
3: Jason Bright (Holden)
4: Russell Ingall (Ford)
5: Paul Weel (Holden)
6: Steve Richards (Holden)
7: Simon Wills (Holden)
8: Todd Kelly (Holden)
9: Jason Richards (Holden)
10: Rick Kelly (Holden)
11: Paul Morris (Holden)
12: Greg Murphy (Holden)
13: Paul Radisich (Ford) – 53 Laps
14: Jason Bargwanna (Ford)
15: Craig Baird (Holden)
16: Tony Longhurst (Holden)
17: Steve Johnson (Ford)
18: John Bowe (Ford)
19: Fabian Coulthard (Holden)
20: Warren Luff (Ford)
21: Glenn Seton (Ford)
22: Cameron McConville (Holden)
23: Paul Dumbrell (Holden)
24: Anthony Tratt (Holden)
25: Dale Brede (Holden) – 52 Laps
26: Craig Lowndes (Ford)
27: Mark Noske (Ford)
28: Garth Tander (Holden)
29: Steve Ellery (Ford) – 51 Laps
30: David Besnard (Ford)
31: Will Davison (Holden)
32: Brad Jones (Ford) – 47 Laps
DNF: Max Wilson (Ford) – 38 Laps
DNF: Mark Winterbottom (Ford) – 11 Laps
DNF: Garth Walden (Ford) – 1 Laps
RACE ONE RESULTS
1: Mark Skaife (Holden) – 54 laps
2: Marcos Ambrose (Ford)
3: Russell Ingall (Holden)
4: Jason Bright (Holden)
5: Todd Kelly (Holden)
6: Jason Bargwanna (Ford)
7: Jason Richards (Holden)
8: Cameron McConville (Holden)
9: Paul Weel (Holden)
10: Steven Richards (Holden)
11: Greg Murphy (Holden)
12: John Bowe (Ford)
13: Paul Morris (Holden)
14: Paul Radisich (Holden)
15: Simon Wills (Holden)
16: Tony Longhurst (Holden)
17: Steve Ellery (Ford)
18: Paul Dumbrell (Holden)
19: Craig Lowndes (Ford)
20: Brad Jones (Ford)
21: Garth Tander (Holden)
22: Anthony T ratt (Holden)
23: Mark Winterbottom (Ford)
24: Warren Luff (Ford)
25: Dale Brede (Holden)
26: David Besnard (Ford)
27: Mark Noske (Ford) – 53 Laps
28: Garth Walden (Ford)
29: Fabian Coulthard (Holden)
30: Rick Kelly (Holden) - 52 Laps
31: Craig Baird (Holden)
32: Steven Johnson (Ford) – 43 Laps
DNF Max Wilson (Ford)
DNS Glenn Seton (Ford)
ROUND 8 POINTS
1: Marcos Ambrose (Ford) 189
2: Mark Skaife (Holden) 189
3: Jason Bright (Holden) 177
4: Russell Ingall (Ford) 177
5: Todd Kelly (Holden) 159
6: Paul Weel (Holden) 156
7: Steve Richards (Ford) 150
8: Jason Richards (Holden) 150
9: Jason Bargwanna (Ford) 138
10: Simon Wills (Holden) 132
CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1: Jason Bright 1308
2: Marcos Ambrose 1295
3: Steve Richards 1276
4: Rick Kelly 1194
5: Russell Ingall 1159
6: Greg Murphy 110 8
7: Todd Kelly 1056
8: Garth Tander 975
9: John Bowe 836
10: Jason Bargwanna 790
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