SBR CARS IN TOP FIVE ON DRYING GP TRACK
7/4/2005 14:35 (Press Release) -
Stone Brothers Racing’s Marcos Ambrose and Russell Ingall finished fourth and fifth respectively in the second of three V8 Supercar support races at the Foster’s Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne today.
The pair sat second and third for a lot of the race which was run over 19 laps on a drying track.
In the dying stages John Bowe and Brad Jones, the only drivers to start the race on slick tyres, had charged through the field to finish one-two in only the second race for the Ford team’s new major sponsors BOC Gases.
Mark Skaife finished third ahead of Ambrose in his Pirtek Falcon and Ingall in his Caltex Ford.
The race opened with one of the most bizarre laps seen at Albert Park.
At turn one Todd Kelly took the lead from Mark Skaife, Ingall, Jason Bright and Ambrose.
Greg Ritter got tapped into the sandtrap at turn one and mid-way through the lap Paul Weel, Greg Murphy and Andrew Jones ended up parked in the middle of the track after a melee at turn six.
The safety car came out, but Kelly spun after hitting the ripple strip coming on to the main straight for the first time and nosed his car up against the inside wall.
That allowed Skaife to take the lead from Ambrose, Bright and Ingall.
The race got underway four laps later and by the end of the next lap Ingall had moved into third.
Bowe, who started 12th, moved into the lead on lap 16 and went on to win the race from Jones who started 24th and Skaife.
“The race was great, I really enjoyed it,” said Ambrose, the back-to-back V8 Supercar champion.
“The race was always going to be a lottery with the weather, tyres and safety car periods.
“John Bowe and Brad Jones came up with the goods and good luck to them.
“My race with Mark Skaife was terrific and it would be terrific if we could have a few more of those through the season.
“We are still starting towards the front tomorrow for the final 10 lapper so we will see what we can do.”
Ingall was happy with the speed and balance of his new car which was running in the wet for the first time.
“I had a couple of good dices out there, but a lot of the time I was running by myself in third and just cruising around,” said Ingall.
“The race obviously fell the way of (John) Bowe and (Brad) Jones and I am not that disappointed with fifth. We were definitely good enough for third or better.
“We will give it another crack in the 10-lapper tomorrow and milk a bit more information before we head to Adelaide in two weeks time.”
There will be a final 10-lap race tomorrow at 11.20am.
RACE 2 – TOP 10 RESULTS
1: John Bowe (Ford)
2: Brad Jones (Ford)
3: Mark Skaife (Holden)
4: Marcos Ambrose (Ford)
5: Russell Ingall (Ford)
6: Craig Lowndes (Ford)
7: Jason Bright (Ford)
8: Jamie Whincup (Holden)
9: Steve Ellery (Ford)
10: Rick Kelly (Holden)
Release Date: 05/03/2005
Stone Brothers Racing
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