R3 QUAL – Marcos outguns Skaife to win Creek pole
3/5/2003 18:34 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Marcos Ambrose is the fastest gun in the West (of Sydney), turning the tables on Holden’s Mark Skaife today to win pole position for round three of the series at Eastern Creek Raceway.
Ambrose held his nerve in the one-lap dash to clock the fastest time, outgunning Skaife who was more than half a second quicker in provisional qualifying.
It’s Ambrose’s ninth career pole, and the best possible start in his climb from 13th on the championship ladder.
"The lap was just as I had planned and it's great to get my first pole of the year," said Ambrose after clocking the one-minute 31.55sec lap.
"We really had to drive to the conditions as they were changing through the Top Ten Shootout session. I saw a couple of the earlier guys go out and they were slipping and sliding a bit.
"I really had to try and put some pressure on Skaife, because he had produced such a great lap in the qualifying session.”
And it worked. Skaife was more than two-tenths of a second slower as he attempted to beat the clock as the final runner, finishing just ahead of Holden Racing Team teammate, Todd Kelly in third.
Craig Lowndes’ Ford Performance Racing BA Falcon has improved throughout the weekend, jumping from eighth in qualifying to fourth on the grid with a smooth shootout lap.
"The car has come a long way since we rolled it out of the truck yesterday," Lowndes said. "Our aim was to make it good for the race, so to start on the second row tomorrow is a bonus.”
Greg Murphy is still chasing the elusive tenth or two that made him a contender last year, clocking the fifth fastest time in his Kmart Commodore.
OzEmail Racing veteran John Bowe made the most of his third shootout from as many rounds this season, sliding into sixth after grabbing the last shootout spot in qualifying.
The Holdens of Jason Bright (Team Brock) and Garth Tander (Garry Rogers Motorsport) finished seventh and eighth respectively.
Kiwi Simon Wills enjoyed Team Dynamik’s first foray into the qualifying shootout, setting the ninth fastest time. Teammate Jason Richards qualified 12th, in another encouraging display from the fledgling Adelaide-based outfit.
"I was a little disappointed that I was not able to capitalise on my fifth place in qualifying,” Wills said, “but I am quite satisfied to be in the top ten."
While Ambrose headed the times, teammate Russell Ingall was the shootout footer. The former Holden rebel said he “just missed it” in sliding six places to tenth, more than a second outside Ambrose’s pole time.
Paul Morris was unlucky to miss the shootout in 11th, while Jason Bargwanna topped the times in the slower qualifying group to eventually finish 13th.
Steven Richards was the most noticeable absentee from the lead bunch, struggling in his Castrol Commodore to 16th, and OzEmail's Brad Jones was bitterly disappointed with his 19th fastest effort.
New Zealand rookie David Thexton was just happy to make the grid, albeit the last row, and will make his V8 Supercar race debut tomorrow after making the qualifying cut for the first time in three starts.
Tomorrow’s 300km showdown gets the green light at 1:30pm local time.
Qualifying results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?04/05/2003.ECIR.Q7
Top Ten Shootout results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?04/05/2003.ECIR.Q10
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