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Ingall Leads the Ford Force at Oran Park

Staff, Monday August 15, 2005.

Page 1 of 1

Caltex Racing's Russell Ingall has taken his first win of the 2005 V8 Supercar Championship Series and his first ever victory at Oran Park after a determined drive in Sydney.

Ingall beat home Marcos Ambrose (Pirtek Racing) and in the process reclaimed second place in the 2005 title chase to his Stone Brothers Racing team-mate.

Ingall took second place in the day's opening race to Steven Richards, before passing Ambrose in the second race to take the chequered flag and the winner's trophy.

The Enforcer enjoyed a mistake-free day as he celebrated Ford's third-straight win at the track and the Blue Oval's seventh win in the last eight rounds in Sydney.

Ford and Holden have now won four rounds each, squaring the chase for the Manufacturer's Championship.

"A great day for me, the team and Ford who marked their 80th anniversary in Australia this weekend," said Ingall.

"It's incredible to think that before this weekend I'd never finished higher than fourth at Oran Park. We well and truly knocked that on the head today.

"The car was awesome to drive, especially in that second race. It wasn't too bad in the first race, but the boys waved the magic wand over it before race #2 and it was strong throughout the 150km journey.

"It was pretty interesting in the second race when I was up behind Marcos. It's important to always win, but we were both pretty sensible in the sense that we weren't going to take each other off. I knew I had to earn the position and it was a good clean pass ? he didn't hand it over to me.

"It's a great result for the championship. We're back into second and although there's still a pretty big gap, I'll give it everything to keep the fight going.

"Marcos does seem to have some type of force field around his championship lead. However, he's not doing too much wrong right now to give me a better look in.

"Now to the endurance races beginning with Sandown and Bathurst. I'm looking forward to those races and driving with Luke Youlden who has been very good in those races over the past few years."

For Ambrose it could very well have been victory. However, after his compulsory pit stop in race #1 he was judged to have broken the 40km/h pit lane speed limit and was given a drive-through penalty. The same offence and penalty was handed to Team Betta Electrical's Craig Lowndes. Both teams later argued the penalty and even thought both cars' on-board telemetry showed neither had broken the limit, they had to accept the judge of fact's radar gun.

Ambrose charged back through the field to finish fourth, setting up his challenge for the final race.

Overall he extended his championship lead to 106 points.

"When one slips away from you like that, you just have to cop it on the chin," said Ambrose.

"I must say that I'm delighted for Russell and an awesome result for the team and Ford. It's great once again for Ford to dominate in Sydney.

"It was a great comeback in race #1, as it showed that we had the car to beat. However, our on-board telemetry system that is controlled by the championship's technical department showed that we did not speed. The same was found with Craig's car. I'm just glad it didn?t cost us more today.

"Russell's car was just too good in that second race. We split our pit stop strategy with my car stopping earlier than his. Once he stopped his car was just awesome and it wasn't a matter if he would pass me, but when it was going to happen.

"This was an important round for the championship. I have come away with a stack of points and now can go into Sandown feeling pretty comfortable. Ideally Warren Luff and I can combine to get another good result and that will allow us to attack at Bathurst."

The V8 Super Series next goes racing over the weekend of September 9-11 for the Betta Electrical Sandown 500. Last year Ford claimed a 1-2-3 result.

Oran Park ? Overall Results

1. Russell Ingall ? Caltex Racing ? Ford Falcon BA
2. Marcos Ambrose ? Pirtek Racing ? Ford Falcon BA
3. Greg Murphy ? Super Cheap Auto Racing ? Holden Commodore
4. Rick Kelly ? HSV Dealer Team ? Holden Commodore
5. Steven Richards ? Castrol Perkins Motorsport ? Holden Commodore
6. Craig Lowndes ? Team Betta Electrical ? Ford Falcon BA
7. Jason Bright ? CAT Ford Performance Racing ? Ford Falcon BA
8. Cameron McConville ? Valvoline Racing ? Holden Commodore
9. Paul Radisich ? Team Kiwi ? Holden Commodore
10=. Jason Bargwanna ? Orrcon Steel Racing ? Ford Falcon BA
10=. Max Wilson ? Wow Racing ? Holden Commodore

Championship Standings after 8 of 13 rounds

1. Marcos Ambrose ? Pirtek Racing ? Ford Falcon BA 1346pts
2. Russell Ingall ? Caltex Racing ? Ford Falcon BA ?106pts
3. Steven Richards ? Castrol Perkins Motorsport ? Holden Commodore ?123pts
4. Craig Lowndes ? Team Betta Electrical ? Ford Falcon BA ?277pts
5. Todd Kelly ? Holden Racing Team ? Holden Commodore ?281pts
6. Mark Skaife ? Holden Racing Team ? Holden Commodore ?332pts
7. Greg Murphy ? Super Cheap Auto Racing ? Holden Commodore -338pts
8. Garth Tander ? HSV Dealer Team ? Holden Commodore -382pts
9. Jason Bright ? CAT Ford Performance Racing ? Ford Falcon BA -422pts
10. Steven Johnson ? Westpoint Racing ? Ford Falcon BA ?428pts

For Further information contact:
Ben Beazley
Media Coordinator
Ford Racing Australia
Phone: 03 9359 8190
Mobile: 0417 262 753
Email: bbeazle3@ford.com

Further information and high-resolution images relating to Ford Racing Australia can also be found at : media.ford.com

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