20 years on: Ambrose's unbelievable Sandown spin-and-win
Marcos Ambrose’s charge to his second straight V8 Supercar Championship Series crown in 2004 included victory in the Sandown 500 alongside co-driver Greg Ritter.
While the Stone Brothers Racing Ford duo led home a SBR 1-2 and a Ford 1-2-3, it very nearly didn’t work out that way 20 years ago when Ritter spun the #1 Falcon at Turn 1 while leading with 60 laps to go.
The blue Ford slid and slipped its way through the wet grass for an excruciating period of time, Ritter eventually able to coax it back onto the bitumen to safe ground after losing nearly a whole lap.
A Safety Car soon after allowed him to pit and hand over to Ambrose, who flew back through the field, re-took the race lead on lap 113 and drove on to victory.
He and Ritter were dominant that day and led 130 of the 160 laps; the multiple Safety Car periods meant the time certain finish was triggered at 4.45pm with 160 of the 161 scheduled laps completed.
The #1 Pirtek Ford crossed the line 3.3-seconds in front of the sister #9 Caltex SBR Falcon of Russell Ingall and Cameron McLean.
The all-Ford podium was rounded out by the third-placed Shell Helix/DJR Ford of Steven Johnson and Warren Luff. The result marked Luff’s first-ever V8 Supercar podium finish.
The best Commodore finisher was the Garry Rogers Motorsport entry of Garth Tander and Cam McConville in fourth spot with Kmart Racing’s Rick Kelly and Greg Murphy home in fifth.
Kelly had taken pole position in Saturday’s Top 10 Shootout, the first pole of his V8 Supercar career.
Nine-time Sandown enduro winner Peter Brock made a comeback with the Holden Racing Team in its second entry at Sandown 20 years ago, competing in his first Sandown 500 since 1997.
Brock shared the team’s #05 Commodore with Brit Jason Plato and the duo finished 14th on a day that saw a record 12 Safety Car periods.
Rain in the lead-up to race day meant the grass verges and areas off-track were soft, cars running off-track generally not finding their way back onto the road without assistance.
One team that featured prominently in the Safety Car period count was Craig Gore’s WPS Racing. The team’s black Falcons caused five of the SC periods during the race after running off road and becoming stranded.
The #48 car of John McIntyre and Alex Yoong caused three and the #23 car of David Besnard and Charlie O’Brien caused two, prompting the team owner to fire up in the aftermath of the race and savage his own team.
“Disgusting, disappointing, absolutely gutted, heartache for the team and any fans we have left …” Gore said in his post-race wrap.
“I look at the result and reflect back on the four weeks of constant effort we applied in both theory and practice in preparation for Sandown and I can only say I am astounded and disappointed.
“Our driver, and I’m thinking especially of Bezzy when I say this, took it upon himself to be a superstar and went against every plan we put together … and that was after just one bloody turn into a 500km race.”
The 2004 Betta Electrical Sandown 500 also marked the V8 Supercar debut of future Bathurst 1000 winner Lee Holdsworth, who shared a Smiths Trucks-backed Commodore with Phil Scifleet.
They retired after just 16 laps due to an under-bonnet fire. Holdsworth will be back in action for this year’s Penrite Oil Sandown 500 co-driving Walkinshaw Andretti United’s #25 Mustang with championship contender Chaz Mostert.
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