Ford sweeps Sandown


Marcos Ambrose headed an all Ford Sandown 500 podium when he won the first endurance race of the season, the traditional warm up for Bathurst. Ambrose's win moved him back into the lead for the V8 Supercar series championship.

This is the first of two races in the series that require each car have two drivers and this event gives chance for the co-drivers to get a feel of the cars in race conditions. Many are local drivers who get a chance to strut their stuff before all the team managers in the hope of a full time drive in the series. There are a few international drivers such as former British Touring Car champions Alain Menu and John Cleland but the local drivers from the second tier Konica Minolta V8 Supercar series have an edge in experience in these type of cars .

Melbourne's unpredictable September weather did not daunt youngster Rick Kelly as he took his maiden V8 Supercar pole in Saturday's top 10 shoot out.

"It's awesome… I've been waiting for this for three years," the 21-year-old said after his win. "I think it is harder to get a pole in this series than a race win, and hopefully this will open it up for us now."

Kelly's lap was run near the end of a wet day on a moderately dry track with damp patches and oil from a previous engine blow-up.

Stone Brothers Racing's Marcos Ambrose will start alongside Kelly on the front row in tomorrow's Betta Electrical Sandown 500

Ambrose set the fourth-fastest time in qualifying, but then improved two positions in the top 10 shoot out to the delight of his co-driver Greg Ritter.

"I'm comfortable with the way Marcos likes the car set up. I'm not nervous, rather excited the opportunity of having a good chance to win this race". said Ambrose's co-driver Greg Ritter

"I was pretty happy to be fourth considering a few problems we had in qualifying and even happier to pick up a couple of spots in the shoot out." said Ambrose.

Owen Kelly's performance in the second DJR Shell Helix Falcon drew plenty of praise, as he was the only non V8 Supercar Series regular to make the top-10.

QUALIFYING – TOP 10 SHOOT OUT:
POS DRIVERS CAR TIME
1. R. Kelly-G. Murphy Kmart Holden Commodore 1:22.142
2. M. Ambrose-G. Ritter Pirtek Ford Falcon 1:22.745
3. P. Morris-A. Gurr Sirromet Wines Holden Commodore 1:22.885

The copyright of the article Ford sweeps Sandown in V8 Supercar Racing is owned by Philip Northeast. Permission to republish Ford sweeps Sandown in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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