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Ford Wins Fourth Sandown Running and Dominates Podium

Staff, Monday September 17, 2007.

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Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup drove a stellar Sandown 500 today winning the first 2007 V8 Supercar endurance hit-out with a one lap lead in the #888 Team Vodafone Falcon.

The win makes it four Sandown 500’s in a row for the Blue Oval with Ford Performance Racing taking out the event in 2006, Lowndes with Triple Eight in 2005 and Marcos Ambrose with Stone Brothers Racing in 2004.

Whincup yesterday qualified for the duo and had the fifth fastest time, with Lowndes taking the first stint in today’s gruelling endurance race as rain threatened to mix-up the Melbourne event but held off.

Whincup returned to the drivers seat for the second stint and an additional co-driver swap saw Lowndes take the #888 Falcon across the line for the race win – cheered on by his team, Ford Australia President Tom Gorman and thousands of loyal fans.

Steven Richards and co-driver Owen Kelly joined their Ford counterparts on the podium in third position after putting in a cracking 161 laps in their #6 Castrol / Ford Performance Racing (FPR) Falcon.

Richards qualified sixth in the shoot out, and Kelly was first in the driver’s seat. A co-driver change saw FPR full-time driver Richard double-stint until the end of the race and cross the line in third position.

The Blue Oval dominated all weekend with Mark Winterbottom scoring pole after putting in the best flying lap in Saturday’s return of the Top Ten Shoot Out, in his #5 Ford Credit / FPR Falcon.

James Courtney wasn’t far behind, putting in the second best flier in his #4 Jeld-Wen Racing Falcon to qualify second.

Jason Bright was top of Friday’s practice in the #25 Fujitsu Racing Falcon, showing the immense depth of Ford’s V8 Supercar talent, with a number of Blue Oval teams, cars and drivers able to top the field.

Ford’s dominance at Sandown as expected kicks off nicely its endurance campaign to back up the 2006 wins at both the 500 and the Bathurst 1000.

CRAIG LOWNDES

“I love the enduro’s and it’s an honour to race here at Sandown.”

“Today we worked on a good set-up for both dry and wet conditions today, plus we had four strategies in mind which were dependent on safety cars.”

“We were flexible on our stints – Jamie and I work well together, we’ve proven that with a third at Sandown and a win at Bathurst last year.”

JAMIE WHINCUP

“This is my first Sandown 500 win, everything went to plan and for me it’s another box ticked.”

“Knowing the car and the track I was able to pull away and give Craig a handy lead.”

“The car was excellent, and in the enduro’s a solid team effort is really important – our guys delivered.”

“It will be a mammoth effort to repeat last year’s win at Bathurst but it’s what we’re working towards.”

STEVEN RICHARDS

“We were lapping similar times to the guys in front today, we had a fast car and a set-up that paid off.”

“The lack of blue flags was a bit disappointing, we got stuck behind other cars at times.”

“Owen did a fantastic job, we’ve been very confident with regards to his pace and ability, it has certainly paid off for us today.”

OWEN KELLY

“I’ve had a fantastic six months in terms of racing and this has topped it off.”

“FPR really looked after me in terms of laps in testing so I felt comfortable getting into the drivers seat this weekend.”

“It’s an honour to drive with Richo, I actually had the easy bit – I got to throw him the keys and put my feet up whilst he delivered the final result.”

SANDOWN ROUND TOP TEN

1. #888 Lowndes/ Whincup, TEAMVODAFONE

2. #1 R Kelly / Radisich, TOLL HSV, Holden
3. #6 Richards / O Kelly, FPR, Ford
4. #16 Tander / Baird, TOLL HSV, Holden
5. #33 Canto / Holdsworth, Valvoline, Holden
6. #20 P.Dumbrell/P.Weel Supercheap, Holden
7. #9 Ingall/ Youlden CALTEX RACING, Ford
8. #5 Winterbottom/ Halliday, FPR, Ford
9. #22 T Kelly/ Pretty, HRT, Holden
10. #10 Lyons / Simonsen, TEAMVODAFONE

2007 CHAMPIONSHIP TOP TEN

1 Rick Kelly, TOLL HSV, Holden
2 Garth Tander, TOLL HSV, Holden
3 Jamie Whincup, TEAMVODAFONE, Ford
4 Craig Lowndes, TEAM VODAFONE, Ford
5 Todd Kelly, HRT, Holden
6 Mark Skaife, HRT Holden
7 Steven Richards, CASTROL / FPR, Ford
8 Mark Winterbottom, FORD CREDIT / FPR
9 Russell Ingall, CALTEX RACING Ford
10 Will Davison, JIM BEAM RACING, Ford

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