R5 PREV – Ingall out to steal spotlight in the wild West
6/6/2003 18:45 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Third in the V8 Supercar championship after four rounds, and well within reach of the leader, might satisfy most drivers in the paddock. But not Russell Ingall.
For all his tenacity, Ingall’s patience is thin. He’s yet to win a championship race for Ford; his teammate, Marcos Ambrose, has already won three this season.
For arguably the best driver yet to win the series crown, ‘the Enforcer’ says it’s time to get serious, beginning in Western Australia this weekend for the series’ fifth round at Barbagallo Raceway.
"I actually don't mind that Marcos is in the limelight with a couple of round wins, because it has meant that I have been able to just chip away and settle right into the car and the team," said Ingall, sitting 84 points behind series leader Jason Bright.
"But now it's time to get serious.
"I want to win this championship and the best way to do that is by winning races.”
Ingall made his intentions clear during opening practice today, clocking the second-fastest time behind former teammate Steven Richards in the 35-minute shakedown.
He says this weekend’s format, a return to 100km sprint races, suits his driving style.
"Barbagallo has been pretty good to me in the past and it is certainly a circuit I enjoy racing on,” he said.
"I look forward to driving a Ford for the first time in the West because I have a really strong fan base over there.”
His teammate could again prove the toughest competition, as Ambrose aims to become the first Ford driver to claim a round hat trick since Glenn Seton in 1993.
Ambrose says he’s confident of repeating his success at Winton and Eastern Creek, despite a poor record at the arid 2.4km circuit. Fourth in the championship, he hopes to cut further into Bright’s lead.
Consistency has seen Bright retain his margin, but the Team Brock driver says the speed of his older-model VX Commodore could surprise this weekend.
“We didn’t have quite the right set-up at Winton,” he said. “The car wasn’t nearly as fast as we know it is capable of, and we were dropping three-tenths [of a second] per lap to Ambrose which is pretty significant.”
Despite sweating on a decision from administrators on Holden’s team ownership structure, the factory squad will be looking to put the troubles behind them at Barbagallo.
Mark Skaife will drive for the first time as owner of the Holden Racing Team, and after an adventurous start to the year the five-time champion will be looking to climb out of the hole that has him sixth in the series standings.
Skaife has history on his side, with HRT winning seven of the last eight Barbagallo rounds.
Skaife was third in today’s practice, behind Richards and Ingall. Garth Tander and Todd Kelly were next, in a Holden-dominated top ten.
Race one will be held tomorrow afternoon, with the final two races scheduled for Sunday.
Practice results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?08/06/2003.BARB.P10
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