Stone Brothers Racing’s Marcos Ambrose capped off a remarkable weekend when he finished second outright in the fifth round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Barbagallo Raceway near Perth on Sunday.
Ambrose finished fourth and third respectively in Sunday’s two 42-lap races and finished second overall for the weekend in his Pirtek Ford Falcon behind Jason Bright.
Ambrose, the defending series champion, picked up from where he left off on Saturday when he raced from his worst starting position ever of 21st into third in the opening race.
The “Devil Racer” moves back into the championship lead by 50 points from Rick Kelly.
Ambrose’s SBR teammate Russell Ingall had a tough day at the office in his Caltex Havoline Ford after being turned around on the main straight in race two and finishing 17th.
Ingall improved four spots in the final race to finish 13th, but did not have the car speed to sneak any further up the results sheet.
In the first race today Ambrose slotted into fourth off the line behind Garth Tander, but had grabbed the race lead by lap seven.
On lap 18 Ambrose locked-up on some oil on the fast right-hander off the back straight and Mark Skaife and Kelly slipped past.
A couple of laps later Skaife was given a drive-through penalty for exceeding the pit lane speed limit during his compulsory pit stop.
The damaged tyre caused through the earlier lock-up started to take its toll on Ambrose and he slipped back to finish fourth behind Bright, Kelly and Greg Murphy.
In the opening lap of the final race Ambrose was squeezed wide on the opening corner by Murphy and he dropped back to seventh.
Ambrose lost several seconds when Murphy spun in front of him while entering pit lane. Fortunately Murphy had not totally blocked the entrance and Ambrose was able to pick his way past.
On lap 26 Bright had a big lead and Richards made a move on Todd Kelly for second place. At the same time Ambrose moved on Rick Kelly for fourth.
Kelly got back past Richards, but that was short live when Richards dived down the inside of him at turn one on lap 28.
Ambrose followed Richards through in a sensational move to claim third place.
Highlights of the Barbagallo round of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship will be broadcast in High Octane Motorsport on Supersport on the following dates and times:
July 06, 22h30 – CSN / Supersport 2
July 07, 04h00 – Supersport 2
July 07, 15h30 – Supersport 1
July 08, 11h30 – Supersport 2
July 09, 10h00 – CSN / Supersport 2
July 13, 01h30 – CSN / Supersport 1
Broadcast dates and times are subject to change at the sole discretion of the broadcaster.
