The 2003 Sandown 500 (known for naming rights reasons as the 2003 Betta Electrical Sandown 500) was an endurance race for V8 Supercars and served as the ninth round of the 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It was held on the weekend of 12 to 14 September at the Sandown Raceway in Melbourne, Victoria. The race was scheduled for 161 laps at a distance of 500 kilometers. Through the effects of the weather and a support race incident that delayed the start by 19 minutes, the race would be declared at 141 laps.
In a race marred by tumultuous conditions, Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly secured victory as their competitors fell by the wayside throughout the race. The Stone Brothers Racing outfit of Marcos Ambrose and Russell Ingall entered the weekend as the combination to beat. After claiming pole position by nearly half a second and storming out to an early lead, the pairing appeared to be in the box seat for victory. However, the campaign would be dashed when Ingall spun into the gravel trap immediately after jumping into the car owing to his failure to bring the brake pedal up to pressure after the brake pads had been changed. The race was also notable for the late-race charge by Jason Richards who almost pulled off a major upset victory for Team Dynamik before understeering into the gravel with two laps remaining.
Background The event was held on the weekend of 12 to 14 September 2003. It was the 36th running of the Sandown 500, the first to be held as a championship event in the modern era, and consisted of one 500 km race with two compulsory pitstops for fuel and tyres.
Entry list
There were 35 drivers entered into the event. It featured mixture of vehicle models - three AU Ford Falcon's, fourteen BA Falcon's, seven VY Commodore's, and ten VX Commodore's.
Preceding the event, British-based Triple Eight Race Engineering had bought the Briggs Motorsport team and assumed operations following the previous round in Oran Park.
The Garry Rogers Motorsport entry of Garth Tander and Nathan Pretty featured the controversial 'x-bar' within the car. All cars were already fitted with what was known as the 'Larry bar' - a rollbar that ran diagonally across the car for chassis rigidity. The x-bar featured an additional bar which essentially mirrored the Larry bar, creating an x-formation and gave the chassis more rigidity and speed.
Multiple entrants sported special liveries for this event. The Stone Brothers Racing cars featured split liveries with team sponsors Pirtek and Caltex Havoline. The Holden Racing Team cars featured a special Mobil 1 promotion on the bonnets.
This event would also mark the series debut for multiple drivers including Mark Winterbottom, Allan Simonsen, Nicolas Minassian, Andy McElrea, Brett Peters, Kerry Wade, Marcus Marshall and Rickard Rydell.
Race report Qualifying Paul Radisich took an emotional provisional pole position by less than one hundredth of a second over Mark Skaife. This marked Triple Eight Race Engineering's first pole position since entering the sport earlier that weekend and Radisich's first provisional pole position since 2001.
Pos. No. Driver Entrant Car Time 1 65 Paul Radisich Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Falcon (BA) 1:11.0674 2 1 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VY) 1:11.0708 3 4 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:11.0955 4 51 Greg Murphy John Kelly Racing Holden Commodore (VY) 1:11.2962 5 31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:11.3779 6 44 Simon Wills Team Dynamik Holden Commodore (VY) 1:11.4141 7 17 Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:11.4766 8 21 John Bowe Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:11.5216 9 29 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VY) 1:11.5375 10 6 Craig Lowndes Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:11.5527 11 34 Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VY) 1:11.5914 12 18 Max Wilson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:11.6493 13 50 Jason Bright Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.6521 14 9 Mark Winterbottom Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:11.7148 15 15 Andy Priaulx John Kelly Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.7584 16 021 Craig Baird Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.7841 17 10 Mark Larkham Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (BA) 1:11.7869 18 66 Dean Canto Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Falcon (BA) 1:11.8689 19 888 Andrew Jones Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:11.8935 20 16 Greg Ritter Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.9202 21 11 Steven Richards Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VY) 1:11.9703 22 5 Adam Macrow Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:11.9750 23 19 David Besnard Rod Nash Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:11.9948 24 8 Paul Dumbrell Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 1:12.0768 25 3 Cameron McConville Lansvale Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:12.1924 26 2 Tony Longhurst Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VY) 1:12.2192 27 45 Nicolas Minassian Team Dynamik Holden Commodore (VY) 1:12.2794 28 33 Jamie Whincup Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:12.6031 29 75 Anthony Tratt Paul Little Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:12.7129 30 13 Steve Owen Robert Smith Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:12.8101 31 20 Grant Johnson Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:13.0534 32 23 Neal Bates Noske Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:13.3314 33 46 Dale Brede John Faulkner Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:13.9016 34 24 Alan Gurr Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:13.9372 35 99 David Thexton Thexton Motor Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:15.4804 Source:
Top ten shootout Pos. No. Driver Entrant Car Time 1 4 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:11.8554 2 1 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VY) 1:12.2797 3 51 Greg Murphy John Kelly Racing Holden Commodore (VY) 1:12.3744 4 65 Paul Radisich Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Falcon (BA) 1:12.6438 5 44 Simon Wills Team Dynamik Holden Commodore (VY) 1:12.6448 6 17 Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:12.6711 7 6 Craig Lowndes Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:12.6823 8 21 John Bowe Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:12.9444 9 31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:20.6263 EXC 29 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VY) Excluded Source:
Race The start of the race was delayed by 19 minutes owing to a crash in the Historic Touring Cars support race that necessitated barrier repairs at turn one. Glenn Seton would start from the pitlane after encountering a misfire during the reconnaissance lap. Despite their efforts, the problem would persist throughout the race.
Under the ominous cover of dark clouds, Todd Kelly bogged down off the line, dropped to fifth position and Marcos Ambrose led the pack into turn one. At the start of lap four, Kelly began his recovery drive by passing Jason Richards for fourth. Later on the same lap, Garth Tander spun Steven Johnson on the approach to Dandenong Road Corner. Johnson then made contact with the side of Brad Jones and the Dick Johnson Racing Falcon was left stranded on the apex of the corner. In the melee, the second Dick Johnson Racing car of Max Wilson was spun into the side of his teammate, causing additional damage to both cars and sending them down to the back of the pack. Both cars would soon return to the pitlane for repairs. Kelly moved up to third, past Radisich, on lap 7 at turn one. For his role in the accident, Tander was issued a stop-go penalty. At the same time, the first reports of rain at the circuit were issued. Two laps later, Kelly moved past brother Rick Kelly at turn one to move back into second place. On lap 13, Cameron McConville retired from the race after encountering engine issues.
Todd Kelly began to chip away at Ambrose's lead. Within a few laps, Kelly had whittled down the gap to less than a second. Behind them, Radisich and Rick Kelly came to blows at the final corner which saw the latter pitched into a spin. Multiple penalties were issued in this time. David Besnard would be issued a drive-through penalty for spinning Brad Jones at Dandenong Road Corner while Greg Ritter was issued one for kerb-hopping. By lap 40, the rain had arrived and teams began scrambling to pit their cars. Ambrose elected to pit from the lead while Kelly continued on. Three laps later, Kelly slid wide at the penultimate corner and almost became bunkered in the gravel trap such was the lack of grip on the circuit. After pitting for wet weather tyres immediately thereafter, Ambrose resumed the lead. Jason Bright also attempted to persist with slick tyres. But mere laps later, Bright made contact with the wall, causing substantial damage to the front-end of the car. The Team Kiwi Racing entry retired from the race on lap 54 when the engine expired.
On lap 68, Todd Kelly pitted and handed the reigns over to co-driver, Mark Skaife. The next lap, Ambrose made his pitstop and stepped aside for Russell Ingall. During the pitstop, Stone Brothers Racing made a brakepad change on the car. Upon exiting the pitlane, Ingall, preoccupied with adjusting his seatbelts, did not bring the brake pedal up to pressure. As a result, he locked the rear brakes, pitching his car into the spin and came to rest in the gravel trap at turn one, rendering them out of contention for the win. Simon Wills almost joined him at the same point of the track after experiencing his own braking issues. With the car stranded in the gravel, the safety car was deployed with Greg Murphy having now assumed the lead. Upon the resumption of the race, Nathan Pretty was spun by John Cleland at turn one. By lap 104, the rain began to fall once again.
On lap 109, both Murphy and Skaife pitted for wet weather tyres. Upon entering his pit box, the Garry Rogers Motorsport entry of Jamie Whincup was released into the path of Murphy causing him to stop and delayed his pitstop. In the commotion to align Murphy's car in the pitbox, his rear wing had become partially dislodged after the bolts on the right-hand side had loosened and fallen out. The delay sent Murphy tumbling down the order and out of contention. A few laps later, the rain further intensified with hail hitting the circuit as well. Such was the extent of the hail that the accumulated on the track and created a sludge that made the surface virtually undriveable. As a result, the safety car was deployed. Even with the yellow flags displayed and the field having slowed to a crawl, drivers still struggled to keep their cars on the track. Paul Dumbrell speared off the track at turn five and made heavy contact with the outside wall. This forced him to retire from the race and would extend the safety car period. By this stage, it was evident that the race would not reach the 500 kilometer distance in time and the race would become time-certain.
The race resumed on lap 127 with roughly 20 minutes remaining in race time. Jason Richards began to eat into Skaife's lead at the rate of half a second per lap. Skaife begun experiencing electrical issues with his car and started turning off multiple electrical components in order to preserve the equipment and not risk a retirement. This inhibited Skaife's vision and pace, with the wipers having been turned off, and the windows began to fog. By lap 139, Richards had closed to the rear of Skaife's car and began to pressure him heavily for the lead. On lap 140, Richards attempted to pass Skaife at Dandenong Road Corner. The overtake was initially successful but he carried too much speed into the corner, slid wide and became bunkered in the gravel trap.
The race was concluded at the end of lap 141 with Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly claiming victory. Half a minute behind, second place was claimed by Luke Youlden and Steven Ellery. Despite the nightmare pitstop, Greg Murphy and Rick Kelly would claim third place and reclaimed the lead lap after having been a lap down mere minutes earlier.