July 20^th, 2003
Rd 7 results

Ingall leads home a Ford 1-2 finish

IT was a 1-2 result for Ford and for Stone Brothers Racing at Queensland Raceway today, though not in the way most observers had expected.

Russell Ingall won the Big Pond 300 in his Caltex Havoline Falcon, his first race win in a Ford, and Stone Brothers Racing collected its fifth consecutive round win.

SBR recorded its first V8 Supercar 1-2 finish when Ingall and his teammate Marcos Ambrose finished first and second respectively on the 3.21km circuit.

The race was an action-packed affair for SBR with Ambrose starting the day by taking pole for the third consecutive time on his home test track in his Pirtek Falcon and Ingall improving one spot to fourth in the Top 10 Shootout.

Ambrose slotted into second place behind Mark Skaife off the line and Ingall moved up to third. Ambrose moved into the lead on lap 43 when he stopped for tyres (10.4 seconds) and Skaife for fuel (20.5 seconds).

Ingall moved into second place ahead of Skaife on lap 48 when he was handed a 6.9 second tyre stop – Skaife had lost time with an 11-second tyre stop earlier on lap 45.

Ambrose had built up a considerable lead when he stopped for fuel on lap 56, but it all turned bad from there.

He stalled the car when it came off the jacks and then made contact with Steve Ellery as he was leaving the pits, the incident resulting in a drive through penalty.

When he rejoined the track Ambrose was 16 seconds behind second-placed Skaife and was on a charge.

With 10 laps remaining in the race, Ambrose was less than a half a second from Skaife and three laps later he passed him to move into second place – ironically Skaife’s engine expired moments later.

Meanwhile Ingall was continuing to charge on out in front and was not going to be headed once he got a sniff of his first official Ford victory.

The race win was Ingall’s 21st and his ninth round win in 89 starts – his last coming at Winton in Victoria in 2001.

The 300km event was completed without a safety car period.

“It has been a long time between VBs, but this makes it all worth it,” said Ingall.

“This is a great reward for all the team, who have had to put up with a lot the last few races. Unless you are sitting in the seat of one of these things (V8 Supercar) it is hard to describe how hard it really is.

“I have driven in a lot of categories all over the world and it doesn’t get much tougher than this. It is very, very demanding and when you get a win, you know you have earned it.”

While the victory was sweet for Ingall and SBR, it created mixed emotions for Ambrose who was chasing a record-equaling fifth consecutive round win.

Ambrose did move into second place on the championship table, but actually leads the title chase once the points are adjusted to drop each driver’s worst round.

“It really is mixed emotions for me,” said Ambrose, who carries Caltex signage on his car.

“I am disappointed in myself for making the mistake because I had a chance to win five in a row. At the same time I am really pleased for Russell and the rest of the team.

“I made a mistake when I stalled and then in my haste I hit Steve Ellery as I was exiting. I cop the penalty because you can’t be driving into other cars in pit lane and I apologise to Ellery.”

The next round of the championship will be held at Oran Park in Sydney on August 15-17.

FULL RESULTS

Top 10 Shootout

BIGPOND 300 RESULTS

DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDING (AFTER 7 OF 13 ROUNDS)