"We were very conservative early in the day and didn't fight when Murphy went past us early on. The car was going well and got better as the race went on.'
Before the race Skaife commented that they had set their car up to work best in the later stages of the race when the grip level came up due the amount of rubber laid down during the race.
Skaife and Kelly not only relied on tactics as Skaife demonstrated the outright speed of their Holden by setting a new lap record on lap 95. This burst of speed enabled them to get to the front of the queue for the anticipated sprint to the flag following the last round of pit stops.
Fellow Holden driving combination of Jason Richards and Jamie Whincup also followed the conservative tactic and stayed out of trouble and and went one better than third place in the Sandown 500 endurance race. They worked themselves into second position and Richards was right behind Skaife at the restart after the last safety car period. They lacked the speed of the HRT Commodore but their efforts have served notice that this is a team on the improve.
The best Ford finisher was the Falcon of Steven Ellery and Adam Macrow who, despite qualifying 16th, stuck to a game plan of working their way through the field as the race unfolded.
They had made it through to third place for that vital last restart but a gearbox, which wouldn't stay in second or sixth gear hampered Ellery in the charge to the flag. The pair having to hold the gearstick with one hand while driving with the other prevented them from showing their true speed, on lap 88 they had set the fourth fastest time, in the closing stages.
"This was a big result personally. This year has been pretty tough, but now with a result like this I'm sure we can get some momentum going over the final three races of the year," Ellery said.
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