The following are details relating to this weekend’s fourth round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Eastern Creek Raceway in Sydney. Also find following thoughts, results and memorable moments from both Pirtek Racing’s Marcos Ambrose and Caltex Racing’s Russell Ingall.
INTERESTING POINTS
* Marcos Ambrose clinched back-to-back V8 Supercar championships in his Pirtek Ford in the final round of the series at Eastern Creek last year.
* Russell Ingall jumped from fourth to second place in the final round last season in his Caltex Falcon to give Stone Brothers Racing and historic 1-2 finish.
* In six previous round appearances at Eastern Creek Ambrose has only qualified off the front row once and has never finished worse than seventh overall. In his 12 race starts he has never finished worse than 13th.
* While Russell Ingall is sitting second in the overall championship to Marcos Ambrose by 11 points – he is actually leading the title chase by 25 points when you deduct the worst result of the opening three rounds. Each driver will deducted his worst round from the opening 10 rounds of the championship. The final three rounds will all count towards the final championship tally.
* Russell Ingall is coming off a race-three win at Barbagallo Raceway in Perth three weeks ago where he finished second overall to Steve Richards and one place overall ahead of Marcos Ambrose. It was Ingall’s first race victory in WA and his best overall result.
* Stone Brothers Racing conducted a success test at Queensland Raceway on Friday with both Ingall and Ambrose showing plenty of pace.
THOUGHTS ON EASTERN CREEK…..
MARCOS AMBROSE – PIRTEK RACING
Eastern Creek is a frustrating track because whenever you ever drive on it, it feels like you should be going the other way. All the corners over the back all have kinks before the entry, which makes it difficult to pass. While saying that, it is safe, wide and has good amenities for the fans and the teams, so I actually enjoy going there. We have had some tremendous success there the last couple of years so that increases your attraction to a circuit.
MOST MEMOR ABLE MOMENT
I guess Eastern Creek is pretty special place for me because that is where I have clinched my two V8 Supercar championships. Last year we managed to do it on the Saturday evening and then have some fun on the Sunday. If things work out for me in the US this could be the last time I race at the circuit for a long time. It was pretty cool on the Sunday last year because Russell managed to jump up to second and give SBR an amazing 1-2 finish in the championship. It was the first time that had been done for a long time.
CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
MARCOS AMBROSE – DETAILS & CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
Current Points: 519 (1st)
Born: September 1, 1976
Car: Pirtek BA Falcon
Number: 1
V8 Supercar debut: 2001
2004 Championship: 1st
Round Starts: 55
Poles: 16 – Eastern Creek (Rd 13), Queensland 300, Eastern Creek (2004); Sandown, Oran Park, Queensland Raceway, Winton, Eastern Creek (2003); Phillip Island, Oran Park, Winton, Qld 500, Sandown (2002); Eastern Creek, Qld 500, Bathurst (2001)
Race wins: 23 (Last win – Race 2 – Adelaide Clipsal 500 -Round 1, 2005)
Round wins: 14 – Adelaide Clipsal 500 (2005), Eastern Creek (Rd 13), Sandown 500, Oran Park, Queensland 300, Adelaide Clipsal 500 (2004); Eastern Creek, Oran Park, Hidden Valley, Barbagallo, Winton, Eastern Creek (2003), Sandown (2002); Hidden Valley (2001)
V8 Championship Results: 1st (2004); 1st (2003); 3rd (2002); 7th (2001); Other Major V8 Supercar Results: 1st Sandown 500 (2004); V8 Supercar Rookie of the Year (2001)
Career highlights: 1st European Formula Ford championship (2000); 2nd Australian Formula Ford Championship (1997); 1999 British Formula Ford Championship (3rd)
EASTERN CREEK RECORD
2004 – November – Qualified: 1st; Race 1: 1st; Race 2: 1st; Race 3: 1st; Overall: 1st
2004 – May - Qualified: 1st; Race 1: 7th; Overall: 7th
2003 – November - Qualified 4th; Race 1: 1st; Race 2: 1st; Overall: 1st
2003 – May - Qualified 1st; Race 1: 1st; Overall 1st
2002 – Qualified 2nd; Race 1: 2nd; Race 2: 2nd; Race 3: 4th; Overall: 2nd
2001 – Qualified 1st; Race 1: 13th; Race 2: 6th; Overall: 7th
THOUGHTS ON EASTERN CREEK…..
RUSSELL INGALL – CALTEX RACING
Eastern Creek is a little bit like Phillip Island in that if you have a dog of a car it is not a nice place to be. Considering it is not one of my favourite circuits I always have reasonable results there. It is not a hard track to win on if you have the right toy to play with.
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT
There is no doubt that managing to jump to second place in the championship behind Marcos at the final round last year was something pretty special. The Caltex team just worked its butt off all weekend and refused to give up. In the end all I had to do was sit behind (Mark) Skaife and finish third in the final race to give SBR a 1-2 finish in the championship. Skaife and I got a bit too close to each other at Eastern Creek the year before, but that is something I would rather forget about.
CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS (After Round 1, 2004)
Current Points: 508 (2nd)
Born: February 2, 1964
Car: Caltex BA Falcon
Number: 9
V8 Supercar debut: 1996
2004 Championship: 2nd
Round Starts: 111
Poles: 1 Winton (2001)
Race wins: 25 (Last Win – Race 3, Barbagallo Raceway, WA, 2005)
Round wins: 11 – Symmons Plains (2004); Surfers Paradise (2003) Queensland Raceway (2003), Winton (2001); Qld 500 (1999); Lakeside, Mallala, Hidden Valley (1998); Phillip Island, Winton (1997); Calder (1996)
V8 Championship Results: 2nd (2004); 7th (2003); 2nd (2001); 9th (2000); 2nd (1999); 2nd (1998); 3rd; (1997); 6th (1996); Other Major V8 Supercar Results: 1st Bathurst 1000 (1995, 1997); 1st Sandown 500 (1998); 1st Queensland 500 (1999); 2nd Bathurst 1000 (2002); 2nd Sandown 500 (1997, 2004)
Career Highlights: 1st Australian Formula Ford championship (1990); 2nd British Formula Ford 1600 Championship (1991)
EASTERN CREEK RECORD
2004 – November – Qualified: 6th; Race 1: 7th; Race 2: 9th; Race 3: 3rd; Overall: 2nd
2004 – May - Qualified: 6th; Race 1: 14th; Overall: 14th
2003 – November - Qualified 14th; Race 1: 3rdt; Race 2: Excluded; Overall: Excluded
2003 – May - Qualified 10th; Race 1: 3rd; Overall 3rd
2002 – Qualified 7th; Race 1: 5th; Race 2: 29th; Race 3: 27th; Overall: 15th
2001 – Qualified 11th; Race 1: 23rd; Race 2: 12th; Overall: 18th
2000 – Qualified 4th; Race 1: 5th; Race 2: 4th; Race 3: 1st; Overall: 2nd
1999 – Qualified 8th; Race 1: 9th; Race 2: 8th; Race 3: 5th; Overall: 5th
1998 – NO RACE
1997 – Qualified 9th; Race 1: 4th; Race 2: 5th; Race 3: 4th; Overall: 4th
1996 – Qualified 11th; Race 1: 9th; Race 2: 3rd; Race 3: 8th; Overall: 7th
TRACK FACTS – EASTERN CREEK
Venue: Eastern Creek Raceway, Sydney, NSW
2005 Race format: Qualifying and Top 10 Shootout (Saturday); 2 x 36 lap races with compulsory tyre stops (Sunday)
Circuit Length: 3.43km
Circuit Direction: Anti-clockwise
Average Speed: 154.2kph
Maximum Speed: 260-270kph
Qualifying Record: Mark Skaife (Holden Commodore, 1999) 1:30.6550
Lap Record: Mark Skaife (Holden Commodore, 1999) 1:31.7301
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Saturday May 28
9.00am - 11.00am - Practice
11:45am - 12:30pm – Pit Walk
2.15pm - 3.00pm - Qualifying
3.15pm - 3.45pm - Top Ten Shootout
Sunday May 29
11.20am - 12.20pm RACE 1 (36 laps)
3.15pm - 4.15pm RACE 2 (36 laps)
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