The 2002 VIP Petfoods Queensland 500 was an endurance race for V8 Supercars staged at Queensland Raceway, Ipswich, Queensland, Australia on 15 September 2002. Race distance was 161 laps of the 3.121 km circuit, totalling 502 km. The event was round nine of the 2002 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It was the fourth and last Queensland 500 to be held for V8 Supercars, although the race name was revived in 2006 for a club level endurance race for Sports and Touring Cars.

The race was won by David Besnard and Simon Wills aboard a Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon after late-race leaders, Greg Murphy and Todd Kelly, ran out of fuel with two laps remaining.

Background The Queensland 500 event was first held in 1999 and would host its foruth iteration in 2002. The racing program would play host to four support categories - Formula Ford, Porsche Cup, Sports Sedans and Improved Production.

Heading into the event, Mark Skaife led the championship by 679 points over nearest competitor and Holden Racing Team teammate, Jason Bright. For this race, both Skaife and Bright would be paired together while the second car would be occupied by veterans Jim Richards and Tomas Mezera.

Unlike most top teams, Stone Brothers Racing elected to keep their full-time drivers separate for the endurance events. Marcos Ambrose would be joined by Paul Weel who vacated his own team for the endurance season. Said team would be occupied by Mark Porter and Geoff Full. David Besnard meanwhile would be joined by Simon Wills who had been recently displaced as a full-time driver from Briggs Motorsport.

Defending event champions, Steven Johnson and Paul Radisich, struggled throughout the course of the year as Dick Johnson Racing encountered persistent performance issues with their cars.

Multiple drivers would make their V8 Supercar debuts this weekend, including motorcycling ace Daryl Beattie, future Indycar champion Will Power and future V8 Supercar champion, Jamie Whincup. Whincup would also win the Australian Formula Ford Championship that same weekend.

Qualifying Provisional Pos No Driver Team Vehicle Time 1 4 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:10.7937 2 9 David Besnard Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:10.8019 3 1 Jason Bright Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:10.9161 4 66 Max Wilson Briggs Motor Sport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:10.9680 5 51 Greg Murphy Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.0039 6 21 John Bowe Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.0527 7 02 Rick Kelly Holden Young Lions Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.1974 8 54 Craig Baird Rod Nash Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.2306 9 15 Andy Priaulx Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.2855 10 65 Matthew White Briggs Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.3047 11 11 Larry Perkins Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.3624 12 16 Russell Ingall Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.3927 13 31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.4224 14 5 Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.4441 15 10 Mark Larkham Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.4686 Drivers above proceeded to the shootout 16 34 Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.4796 17 17 Paul Radisich Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.5058 18 40 Cameron McLean Paragon Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.5292 19 3 Cameron McConville Lansvale Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.5464 20 2 Jim Richards Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.5998 21 021 Jason Richards Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore (VT) 1:11.6002 22 18 Greg Ritter Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.6212 23 00 Craig Lowndes 00 Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.6953 24 888 John Cleland Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.7096 25 600 Steve Owen Briggs Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.7699 26 7 Rodney Forbes 00 Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.7863 27 29 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.8167 28 46 John Faulkner John Faulkner Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.8487 29 161 Greg Crick Halliday Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.8935 30 75 Anthony Tratt Paul Little Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:12.1289 31 35 Jamie Whincup Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:12.1637 32 22 Dugal McDougall McDougall Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:12.3242 33 43 Mark Porter Paul Weel Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:12.3702 34 14 Daryl Beattie Imrie Motor Sport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:12.8706 35 76 Andrew Miedecke Matthew White Racing Holden Commodore (VT) 1:13.5453

Top 15 Shootout Pos No Driver Team Vehicle Time 1 4 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:10.8726 2 1 Jason Bright Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:10.9174 3 21 John Bowe Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.1053 4 9 David Besnard Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.1886 5 51 Greg Murphy Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.3777 6 66 Max Wilson Briggs Motor Sport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.3900 7 02 Rick Kelly Holden Young Lions Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.4080 8 16 Russell Ingall Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.4485 9 11 Larry Perkins Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.8369 10 54 Craig Baird Rod Nash Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:11.9253 11 10 Mark Larkham Larkham Motor Sport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.9604 12 65 Matthew White Briggs Motor Sport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:11.9950 13 15 Andy Priaulx Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia Holden Commodore (VX) 1:12.0921 14 31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:12.3594 15 5 Glenn Seton Glenn Seton Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:13.0188

Race Drivers Team Car Laps Time/Retired Pts 1 9 David Besnard Simon Wills Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 161 03:38:04.2825 4 400 2 16 Russell Ingall Steven Richards Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 161 + 2.4729 8 320 3 34 Garth Tander Jason Bargwanna Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 161 + 6.0250 16 256 4 2 Jim Richards Tomas Mezera Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 161 + 7.0601 20 208 5 4 Marcos Ambrose Paul Weel Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 161 + 7.8564 1 176 6 00 Craig Lowndes Neil Crompton 00 Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 161 + 8.3935 23 160 7 11 Larry Perkins Paul Dumbrell Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 161 + 8.7873 9 144 8 18 Greg Ritter Alan Jones Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 161 + 9.9105 22 128 9 21 Brad Jones John Bowe Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 161 + 10.0330 3 120 10 51 Greg Murphy Todd Kelly Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia Holden Commodore (VX) 161 + 1:19.5294 5 112 11 10 Mark Larkham Will Power Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 160 + 1 lap 11 104 12 7 Rodney Forbes Neal Bates 00 Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 160 + 1 lap 26 96 13 17 Steven Johnson Paul Radisich Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 160 + 1 lap 17 88 14 31 Steven Ellery Luke Youlden Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 160 + 1 lap 13 80 15 40 Cameron McLean Tony Scott Paragon Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 159 + 2 laps 18 72 16 161 Greg Crick Phillip Scifleet Halliday Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 159 + 2 laps 29 68 17 888 John Cleland Tim Leahey Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 158 + 3 laps 24 64 18 43 Mark Porter Geoff Full Paul Weel Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 158 + 3 laps 33 60 19 600 Steve Owen Dale Brede Briggs Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 157 + 4 laps 25 56 20 35 Max Dumesny Jamie Whincup Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 156 + 5 laps 31 52 21 75 Anthony Tratt Paul Stokell Paul Little Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 156 + 5 laps 30 48 22 021 Jason Richards John McIntyre Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore (VT) 155 + 6 laps 21 44 23 76 Andrew Miedecke Tony Quinn Matthew White Racing Holden Commodore (VT) 149 + 12 laps 35 40 24 65 Matthew White Tony Longhurst Briggs Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 145 + 16 laps 12 36 25 14 Daryl Beattie Christian D'Agostin Imrie Motor Sport Holden Commodore (VX) 145 + 16 laps 34 32 26 29 Paul Morris Wayne Wakefield Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 139 + 22 laps 27 28 Ret 02 Rick Kelly Nathan Pretty Holden Young Lions Holden Commodore (VX) 139 Retired 7 Ret 15 Andy Priaulx Yvan Muller Tom Walkinshaw Racing Australia Holden Commodore (VX) 95 Retired 13 Ret 66 Max Wilson Dean Canto Briggs Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 88 Spun off 6 Ret 1 Mark Skaife Jason Bright Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 62 Engine 2 Ret 5 Glenn Seton Owen Kelly Glenn Seton Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 61 Retired 15 Ret 22 Dugal McDougall Alan Gurr McDougall Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 53 Mechanical 32 Ret 54 Craig Baird Mark Noske Rod Nash Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 139 Engine 10 Ret 3 Cameron McConville Warren Luff Lansvale Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 33 Collision damage 19 Ret 46 John Faulkner Rick Bates John Faulkner Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 33 Collision damage 28

Statistics Provisional Pole Position – #4 Marcos Ambrose – 1:10.7937 Pole Position – #4 Marcos Ambrose – 1:10.8726 Fastest Lap – #51 Greg Murphy – 1:11.7057 – 157 km/h Race time of winning car – 03:38:04.2825 – 138 km/h

References

External links Official website for the race at V8Supercars Australia via archive.org www.v8supercar.com.au at 29 September 2002 via web.archive.org 2002 VIP Petfoods Queensland 500 photos from www.pbase.com