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SBR Melbourne race two notes
Russell Ingall takes first Ford win. Stone Brothers Racing's Russell Ingall took his maiden V8 Supercar win in a Ford when he led from start to finish in the second race of the Netspace V8 Supercar Showdown at the Foster's Australian Formula ...
Published: Mar 9, 2003, 11:06 PM
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Russell Ingall takes first Ford win.
Stone Brothers Racing's Russell Ingall took his maiden V8 Supercar win in a Ford when he led from start to finish in the second race of the Netspace V8 Supercar Showdown at the Foster's Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne today.
Ingall made a great start in his Caltex Havoline Falcon from position two on the grid and managed to get on the inside of pole sitter Jason Bright at turn one and race away to 2.1-second lead by the end of the first lap.
In the end he led Steve Richards over the line by three seconds and he was followed by Bright, Jason Bargwanna and John Bowe.
Ingall's SBR teammate Marcos Ambrose also made a solid start from position 18 in his Pirtek Falcon and by lap three he was 11th. Unfortunately Ambrose's bad mechanical luck continued and he withdrew from the race on lap four with an electrical problem.
Although not a championship points race, today's win was significant in the fact that it was Ford's first victory with the brand new BA Falcon.
Today's win was Ingall's first since race two (a reverse grid race) in Canberra last year and SBR's third win in four races after Ambrose won both races in the final round of the 2002 championship at Sandown.
Ingall won all three V8 Supercar support races at Albert Park in 1997 and 1998.
"This is just a fantastic result for Ford, Caltex Havoline and all the boys at SBR who have been working night and day for two months to get these cars ready," said Ingall.
"I would be lying if I said we were expecting these types of results so early, but its' great.
"I think having a Ford up the front is also great for the sport.
"The car gets more comfortable to drive every time I get into it.
"I have not explored its limits yet, but I am sneaking up on it.
"Throwing it into the wall here would not be a very smart thing to do.
"We have been making changes to the car all weekend and will probably do the same tomorrow because it will be the last chance we have to learn anything before Adelaide.
"Hopefully I can come away with the same result."
Ambrose was obviously disappointed with his second DNF in two days.
"This is certainly not the start we wanted, but as I said yesterday, it is better to happen here than in Adelaide in a couple of weeks," said Ambrose.
"It is disappointing after the start we made. I think two good starts in a row is a record for me.
"We were not going to win the race, but we were looking forward to the track time to learn more and more about this car before the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide in a couple of weeks.
"Like today, our work is going to be cut out for us in the final 10-lap race tomorrow."
There is a 10-lap race tomorrow at 10.37am.
-sbr-
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