Sandown 500 - V8 Supercars

[Donny]

Skaife sets provisional pole
September 12, 2003. Fox Sports

HOLDEN drivers Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly today posted the fastest time in practice for the weekend's Sandown 500 V8 Supercar race in Melbourne.

Skaife and Kelly's Commodore clocked 1min11.4960sec – 0.05sec quicker than the Falcon of Brad Jones and John Bowe (1:11.5495).

Holden duo Paul Morris and John Faulkner were next best in 1:11.7020.

Championship leader Marcos Ambrose and co-driver Russell Ingall (1:11.7872) were fifth fastest in their Falcon.

Ambrose has won five of the eight championship rounds and leads the points standings from Holden drivers Jason Bright and Greg Murphy going into the weekend's race.

The Sandown 500 has reverted to its traditional two-driver endurance format this year as the main lead-up to next month's Bathurst 1000.

Qualifying and the top 10 shootout will be held tomorrow before Sunday's 161-lap race.

[Donny]

Ambrose and Ingall grab pole
September 13, 2003

V8 Supercar series leader Marcos Ambrose and co-driver Russell Ingall will start on pole for tomorrow's Sandown 500 after posting the quickest time in today's top 10 shootout.

Ambrose clocked a slick 1min 11.8554sec, more than four-tenths of a second faster than the Commodore of Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly (1:12.2797).

It was Ambrose's third consecutive pole position and continued his outstanding run this season in the Stone Brothers Racing BA Falcon.

The Queensland-based Tasmanian goes into the season's first endurance race having won five of the eight championship rounds this year.

Starting from the second row of tomorrow's grid will be Holden duo Greg Murphy and Rick Kelly (1:12.3744) and the Falcon of Paul Radisich and European touring car ace Rickard Rydell (1:12.6438).

The Sandown 500 features two-driver combinations and is the lead-up race to the Bathurst 1000 next month.

1. Marcos Ambrose/Russell Ingall (Ford Falcon BA) 1:11.8554; 2. Mark Skaife/Todd Kelly (Holden Commodore VY) 1:12.2797; 3. Greg Murphy/Rick Kelly (Holden Commodore VY) 1:12.3744; 4. Paul Radisich/Rickard Rydell (Ford Falcon BA) 1:12.6438; 5. Simon Wills/Jason Richards (Holden Commodore VY) 1:12.6448; 6. Steven Johnson/Warren Luff (Ford Falcon BA) 1:12.6711; 7. Craig Lowndes/Glenn Seton (Ford Falcon BA) 1:12.6823; 8. John Bowe/Brad Jones (Ford Falcon BA) 1:12.9444; 9. Paul Morris/John Faulkner (Holden Commodore VY) 1:13.0164; 10. Steve Ellery/Luke Youlden (Ford Falcon BA) 1:20.6263.

[pies4ever]

go skaify you bloody champ,the weather today there was shocking,hailstones all over the track,with the pace car out for a couple of laps,it was like a blanket of ice over the track..


cheers bryan..!!

[HAL]

Where is that?

[tazza2000]

GO SKAIFEY!!! What a finish!

Got to feel for Murphy he had a great race

Can't wait for Bathurst!!

[Donny]

Skaife, Kelly weather the storm
September 14, 2003

HOLDEN duo Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly survived two hailstorms, heavy rain and a final lap tangle with rival driver Jason Richards to win the Sandown 500 today.

The Holden Racing Team pair emerged victorious in a race shortened from its scheduled 161 laps to 141 by Melbourne's fickle weather at its worst.

Skaife kept his nerve as the Holden Commodore of Richards and Simon Wills tried to pass him entering the final lap.

The pair came together, Richards ended up bogged in a sand trap and failed to finish while Skaife went on to victory.

Steve Ellery and Luke Youlden's Falcon inherited second after Richards' misfortune, with Greg Murphy and Rick Kelly third in their Commodore after recovering from their own bout of bad luck.

Unpredictable driving conditions were the order of the day.

First a minor hailstorm swept the track early in the race, followed by heavy rain and bright sunshine – making tyre selection a nightmare.

Then a second bout of hail on lap 116 turned the circuit into an ice field as drivers struggled to come to terms with the conditions.

Once the hailstorm cleared, the weather had turned so chilly that hail on some sections of the track would not melt.

But after driving behind the safety car for several laps, officials decided to keep racing until the three hours, 45 minutes allotted for the race had expired.

Skaife and Kelly effectively won the race in the pits after nearest rivals Murphy and Marcos Ambrose came unstuck.

Series leader Ambrose's hopes of his sixth win this year took a blow after his co-driver Russell Ingall spun their car out of contention on lap 69.

Ingall lost control just seconds after taking the wheel for his stint in the 500-kilometre race, bogging the duo's Falcon in the turn one sandpit.

That left Murphy and Rick Kelly in the lead until it all went wrong in the pits on lap 109.

A scrape with Garth Tander's car en route to the pits, a botched pit stop and a problem with the rear wing which needed to be fixed conspired to wreck the K-Mart Racing Team's chances.

Skaife, who pitted on the same lap as Murphy, emerged leader after an excellent pit stop.

Murphy and Kelly recovered to finish third, with Ambrose and Ingall fifth.

It is only Holden's second victory for the year and a major confidence boost ahead of the Bathurst 1000 next month.

[falconBA]

if it wasnt for ingall being a showpony and putten the car into the dirt ambrose would had one........ atleast ellery came 2nd...............just wait till bathurst GO FORD