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SPECIAL

Ford Territory

SPECIAL

Ford Territory

Ford Teams Aim for Top-End Repeat in 2002

Staff, Monday May 13, 2002.

Page 1 of 1

Ambrose stunned the V8 fraternity in 2001 when he scored his first V8 Supercar round win at the challenging Darwin track. It also began a strong run for Ford Falcon AUXR8 teams with three straight round wins, Shell Helix Racing?s Steve Johnson and Paul Radisich taking victories in Canberra and Perth respectively.

Ambrose is Ford?s best placed driver in the 2002 championship, sitting in third place overall, just 44 points behind second place holder Greg Murphy.

So far in 2002 Ambrose has taken a race win, a pole position and a second place overall at the most recent round at Sydney?s Eastern Creek.

?It?s been a solid start to this year, but I know that we can be even stronger at Hidden Valley,? said Ambrose.

?Eastern Creek we were very consistent throughout practice, qualifying and the races themselves. Now we need to take that next step and challenge for a round victory.

?Last year at Hidden Valley we proved that we can win, so there?s no reason why 2002 should be any different.

?Our Pirtek Racing Falcon not only won overall last year, it also took top honours back in 1999, so our team clearly has very good information on the track and we aim to once again exploit that this year.?

Sitting one place further back in the championship is Craig Lowndes. The 00 Motorsport star also hit form at Eastern Creek when he climbed through the field in each of the three races and nearly took a win in the final race.

?I expect us to be very strong at Hidden Valley,? said Lowndes.

?We need to be on the pace in qualifying and from there I can see a round win going our way.

?There are three races in Darwin, which will be very tough on all drivers physically, but I?ll prepare well and make sure I maintain my fitness between and during the races themselves.?

The Darwin race presents many challenges, one of the biggest is the high temperatures.

To combat the heat, Ford will bring its specialised Chubb Fire MediRace crew to maintain and monitor the health of its drivers in temperatures expected to be in the mid 30s.

The four members of the Chubb FireMediRace team will monitor all health aspects of the drivers, with the key issues in Darwin likely to be hydration levels as well as air cooling during the races themselves.

It?s a new initiative for Ford at Darwin in 2002 and the benefits could see a number of Falcon teams score the majority of the positions in the top-10 at the end of the weekend.

Following an extraordinary general meeting of the V8 teams on Friday 10 May, the controversial pre-qualifying session that was to be held on Friday at Hidden Valley has been scrapped. Instead, 36-cars and not 32 will start in Darwin, with officials also scheduling a split-practice session from 4pm on Friday afternoon.

Amongst those to have now gained an automatic start are 00 Motorsport?s Neil Crompton and Rodney Forbes, Max Wilson (Team Betta Electrical), Steve Ellery (Super Cheap Auto Racing), Cameron McLean (VIP Pet Foods Racing) and Wayne Gardner (Caltex Havoline Racing).

Ford Racing Australia?s 2002 Hidden Valley V8 Line-Up

Top-10 Championship

Details for Round Three of the 2002 V8 Supercar Series:

For further information contact:
Ben Beazley
Media Coordinator
Ford Racing
Phone: (03) 9533 4455
Mobile: 0417-262 753
Email: ben@segalmedia.com.au

****2002 Ford Racing Australia Media Guides and up to date statistics on all Ford V8 drivers are available ? please contact Ben if you would like a copy****

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