The 2003 V8 Supercar Challenge (known for naming rights reasons as the 2003 Gillette V8 Supercar Challenge) was the eleventh round of the 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It was held on the weekend of 23 to 26 October at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Gold Coast, Queensland. The event ran as part of the support package for the 2003 Lexmark Indy 300 Champ Car World Series race.

Russell Ingall secured his second round victory of the year by winning both races of the weekend in assertive fashion. He was closely followed by Greg Murphy in both races, and a pitlane incident between the two in the first race came under scrutiny. Mark Skaife rounded out the podium in both races while championship leader Marcos Ambrose struggled to keep in touch with the Holden contingency owing to a lukewarm qualifying effort as well as engine trouble in the second race.

Despite the engine dramas, Ambrose still led the championship at the conclusion of the event by virtue of securing sixth and fourth in both respective races.

Background The event was held on the weekend of 23 to 26 October 2003. It was the second V8 Supercar championship event to be held on the streets of Surfers Paradise and consisted of two 100 km races with compulsory pitstops in both for tyres. The event ran as part of the support package for the 2003 Lexmark Indy 300 Champ Car World Series race.

Entry list

There were 33 drivers entered into the event. It featured mixture of vehicle models - four AU Ford Falcon's, thirteen BA Falcon's, six VY Commodore's, and nine VX Commodore's.

Form this round onwards, the Rod Nash Racing entry of David Besnard had switched from the number 19 to number 7 for the remainder of the championship.

Race report Qualifying Mark Skaife secured provisional pole position while Max Wilson secured his best session result of the season thus far. As had often been the case that season, David Thexton failed to qualify for the races after missing the 105% qualifying cut-off time.

Pos No Driver Team Vehicle Time 1 1 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VY) 1:50.8954 2 18 Max Wilson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:51.3122 3 50 Jason Bright Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:51.3916 4 51 Greg Murphy John Kelly Racing Holden Commodore (VY) 1:51.4748 5 9 Russell Ingall Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:51.5291 6 45 Jason Richards Team Dynamik Holden Commodore (VY) 1:51.5920 7 11 Steven Richards Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VY) 1:51.6981 8 31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:51.7113 9 15 Rick Kelly John Kelly Racing Holden Commodore (VY) 1:51.7395 10 2 Todd Kelly Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VY) 1:51.9309 11 66 Dean Canto Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Falcon (BA) 1:51.9700 12 17 Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:52.0238 13 44 Simon Wills Team Dynamik Holden Commodore (VY) 1:52.0491 14 5 Glenn Seton Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:52.1323 15 4 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:52.1675 16 65 Paul Radisich Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Falcon (BA) 1:52.1985 17 7 David Besnard Rod Nash Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:52.2376 18 888 John Bowe Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:52.3537 19 6 Craig Lowndes Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:52.5433 20 3 Cameron McConville Lansvale Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 1:52.5856 21 021 Craig Baird Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:52.6223 22 10 Mark Larkham Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:52.7010 23 21 Brad Jones Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:52.7062 24 34 Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VY) 1:52.7339 25 16 Paul Weel Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:52.8020 26 8 Paul Dumbrell Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 1:52.9314 27 23 Mark Noske Noske Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 1:52.9503 28 20 Jason Bargwanna Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (BA) 1:53.3289 29 33 Jamie Whincup Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 1:53.4043 30 29 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VY) 1:53.5871 31 75 Anthony Tratt Paul Little Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:54.3125 DNQ 99 David Thexton Thexton Motor Racing Ford Falcon (AU) 1:59.6894 Source:

Top ten shootout Pos No Driver Team Vehicle Time 1 2 Todd Kelly Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VY) 1:51.3994 2 1 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VY) 1:51.5471 3 9 Russell Ingall Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:51.5645 4 50 Jason Bright Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1:51.7739 5 51 Greg Murphy John Kelly Racing Holden Commodore (VY) 1:52.0433 6 45 Jason Richards Team Dynamik Holden Commodore (VY) 1:52.2852 7 31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:52.2902 8 18 Max Wilson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 1:52.3005 9 11 Steven Richards Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VY) 1:52.5153 10 15 Rick Kelly John Kelly Racing Holden Commodore (VY) 1:52.7294 Source:

Race 1 Pos No Driver Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid 1 9 Russell Ingall Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 44:08.8285 3 2 51 Greg Murphy John Kelly Racing Holden Commodore (VY) 22 + 2.875 5 3 1 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VY) 22 + 7.763 2 4 50 Jason Bright Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 22 + 9.326 4 5 15 Rick Kelly John Kelly Racing Holden Commodore (VY) 22 + 13.516 10 6 4 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 16.146 15 7 7 David Besnard Rod Nash Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 22.841 17 8 17 Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 26.042 12 9 18 Max Wilson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 27.358 8 10 2 Todd Kelly Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VY) 22 + 27.510 1 11 65 Paul Radisich Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 31.846 16 12 5 Glenn Seton Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 32.455 14 13 16 Paul Weel Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 22 + 36.191 25 14 888 John Bowe Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 36.663 18 15 6 Craig Lowndes Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 47.909 19 16 34 Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VY) 22 + 49.857 24 17 20 Jason Bargwanna Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 50.207 28 18 10 Mark Larkham Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 22 + 51.203 22 19 3 Cameron McConville Lansvale Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 22 + 51.623 20 20 29 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VY) 22 + 54.803 30 21 021 Craig Baird Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 22 + 55.433 21 22 44 Simon Wills Team Dynamik Holden Commodore (VY) 22 + 55.977 13 23 45 Jason Richards Team Dynamik Holden Commodore (VY) 22 + 1:03.684 6 24 75 Anthony Tratt Paul Little Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 1:11.404 31 25 33 Jamie Whincup Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 22 + 1:21.078 29 26 8 Paul Dumbrell Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 22 + 1:23.967 26 Ret 23 Mark Noske Noske Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 19 Suspension 27 Ret 31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 18 Engine 7 Ret 21 Brad Jones Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 4 Oil pressure 23 Ret 11 Steven Richards Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VY) 4 Oil pressure 9 Ret 66 Dean Canto Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Falcon (BA) 0 Accident damage 11 Fastest Lap: Russell Ingall (Stone Brothers Racing) - 1:52.2976 on lap 14 Source:

Race 2 Pos No Driver Team Car Laps Time/Retired Grid 1 9 Russell Ingall Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 53:32.4229 1 2 51 Greg Murphy John Kelly Racing Holden Commodore (VY) 22 + 0.700 2 3 1 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VY) 22 + 1.075 3 4 4 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 3.752 6 5 5 Glenn Seton Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 6.044 12 6 65 Paul Radisich Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 6.730 11 7 15 Rick Kelly John Kelly Racing Holden Commodore (VY) 22 + 7.630 5 8 17 Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 8.139 8 9 6 Craig Lowndes Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 8.593 15 10 888 John Bowe Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 9.961 14 11 44 Simon Wills Team Dynamik Holden Commodore (VY) 22 + 10.380 22 12 33 Jamie Whincup Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VX) 22 + 10.527 25 13 20 Jason Bargwanna Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 10.839 17 14 021 Craig Baird Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 22 + 11.167 21 15 3 Cameron McConville Lansvale Racing Team Holden Commodore (VX) 22 + 11.472 19 16 16 Paul Weel Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 22 + 12.073 13 17 10 Mark Larkham Larkham Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 22 + 12.510 18 18 21 Brad Jones Brad Jones Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 12.606 29 19 29 Paul Morris Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore (VY) 22 + 13.550 20 20 75 Anthony Tratt Paul Little Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 13.947 24 21 8 Paul Dumbrell Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VX) 22 + 14.231 26 22 11 Steven Richards Perkins Engineering Holden Commodore (VY) 22 + 14.724 30 23 18 Max Wilson Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 30.650 9 24 66 Dean Canto Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Falcon (BA) 22 + 31.159 31 25 23 Mark Noske Noske Motorsport Ford Falcon (AU) 21 + 1 lap PL Ret 2 Todd Kelly Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore (VY) 18 Accident damage 10 Ret 7 David Besnard Rod Nash Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 18 Accident damage 7 Ret 45 Jason Richards Team Dynamik Holden Commodore (VY) 18 Accident damage 23 Ret 31 Steven Ellery Steven Ellery Racing Ford Falcon (BA) 13 Accident 28 Ret 50 Jason Bright Paul Weel Racing Holden Commodore (VX) 1 Accident damage 4 Ret 34 Garth Tander Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden Commodore (VY) 1 Gearbox 16 Fastest Lap: Russell Ingall (Stone Brothers Racing) - 1:52.5625 on lap 11 Source:

Championship standings No Driver Team 1 4 Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing 1867 2 51 Greg Murphy John Kelly Racing 1795 3 9 Russell Ingall Stone Brothers Racing 1703 3 1 Mark Skaife Holden Racing Team 1681 4 6 Craig Lowndes Ford Performance Racing 1540

References