Victory For Blue Oval At Australian Grand Prix

30/03/2009
Victory For The Blue Oval At The Australian Grand Prix

Havign won all three races and leading 45 laps around the Albert Parklands Street Circuit last weekend Ford won the Manufacturers Challenge by a landslide at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
After Saturdays race IRIWN Racing's Alex Davison lined up on the grid in 15th while his teammate, SP Tools Racing's Shane van Gisbergen started from 9th position for Race3.

On the first lap van Gisbergen was hot on the tail of Steven Johnson before passing him with ease to jump up to 8th position. Davison, caught up in the mid-field dropped back to 17th staying out of trouble in the initial stages of the race.

A safety car period was deployed on lap 14 when Jason Bright was forced to limp his SBR prepared BF Falcon back to the pits after hitting the wall at turn 15. The impact causing damage to his front left proving how challenging and unforgiving street circuits can be.

Alex Davison - Driver IRWIN Racing Car #4
"The most important thing this weekend for us was to come away with a straight car, which we managed so we are happy with the outcome of the weekend. We tried to use this round as a test session to iron out any problems with the IRWN FG Falcon before we move onto Hamilton.

I am confident we will do well in New Zealand. Clipsal and the AGP gave me time to settle into my new team and get back into a race season rhythm."

Quickly becoming one of the most entertaining drivers in the field, Shane van Gisbergen received plenty of attention as he worked his way up to 7th racing Garth Tander and Steven Johnson once again for position.

Paul Forgie - Engineer Car #9 (In Car Radio)
"Love your work mate, keep it nice and smooth and concentrate on what you're doing."

After completing 14 laps the SP Tools FG Falcon had run out of tyres and van Gisbergen was unable to hold on, finishing in 8th place.

Shane van Gisbergen - Driver SP Tools Racing Car #9 (In Car Radio)
"Sorry about that guys, I made a couple of mistakes on the last lap and couldn't keep him out. It was hard work."

The Stone Brothers Racing team travelled back to the Gold Coast last night after two weeks away for the Clipsal 500 and Melbourne Grand Prix. The team will enjoy the next two days off, returning back to the Yatala workshop Wednesday to make the final preparations to the cars for the upcoming Hamilton Championship Round in April.

Race 3 Results - 15 Laps
POS CAR # TEAM DRIVER VEHICLE
1 888 Team Vodafone Craig Lowndes FORD
2 5 Ford Performance Racing Mark Winterbottom FORD
3 39 Supercheap Auto Racing Russell Ingall HOLDEN
4 22 Holden Racing Team Will Davison HOLDEN
5 8 Team BOC Jason Richards HOLDEN
6 17 Jim Beam Racing Steven Johnson FORD
7 2 Holden Racing Team Garth Tander HOLDEN
8 9 SP Tools Racing Shane van Gisbergen FORD
9 111 Wilson Security Racing Fabian Coultrard FORD
10 1 Team Vodafone Jamie Whincup FORD
16 4 IRWIN Racing Alex Davison FORD

Australian Grand Prix Manufacturers Challenge Points Total
Ford 1856
Holden 1574

ends

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