Ambrose wins race two

Ambrose took victory ahead of Garth Tander and Craig Lowndes as his slim title hopes faded away, leaving Lowndes the only challenger to Ingall's lead.

With just one race remaining, Ingall's lead in the championship continues to shrink but he is still well-placed. With a 37 point lead over Lowndes, nineteenth or better in the final race will be good enough to secure the title for Ingall, or to finish eighteen or less places behind Lowndes.

If Ingall fails to finish, Lowndes needs to finish fourteenth or better. But with two fifth places in two races so far, and only one failure to finish, Ingall will be hard to beat. Race two's results also guarantees that Ford will take a 1-2-3 in the driver's title. Just the order is up for grabs.

The start saw the field move away in grid order, Lowndes leading Tander, Ambrose, Rick Kelly and Russell Ingall in the early going.

Light rain in the early laps made things difficult for everyone, with Tander making light contact with Lowndes as he made an exploratory move at the hairpin before backing out of it. But the rain quickly faded, with the lead group of six pulling away from the rest of the field.

With 32 laps today instead of yesterday's 23, everyone stayed out a few laps longer. Rick Kelly was first of the leaders to pit on lap seven, with Lowndes and next on lap ten, Tander taking the regulation two tyres while Lowndes took four due to a tyre vibration, dropping Lowndes behind Tander and teammate Rick Kelly.

Ambrose came in one lap later and rejoined ahead of Tander, while lap 13 saw championship leader Ingall in. He rejoined just ahead of Lowndes but cold tyres saw Lowndes ahead by turn three.

From that point on Ambrose edged away from Tander at the front, while Rick Kelly faded, passed by Lowndes on lap 18, and then harried by Ingall for lap after lap.

Ambrose went on to take a comfortable win ahead of Tander, with Lowndes in third despite a small off on the second-last lap. A 'wide' Rick Kelly took fourth ahead of Ingall, who in the closing laps had Steven Ellery and Greg Murphy for company.

Result of race two:

Pos  Driver              Car
 1.  Marcos Ambrose      Ford Falcon BA
 2.  Garth Tander        Holden Commodore VZ
 3.  Craig Lowndes       Ford Falcon BA
 4.  Rick Kelly          Holden Commodore VZ
 5.  Russell Ingall      Ford Falcon BA
 6.  Steve Ellery        Ford Falcon BA
 7.  Greg Murphy         Holden Commodore VZ
 8.  Paul Radisich       Holden Commodore VZ
 9.  Paul Weel           Holden Commodore VZ
10.  Mark Skaife         Holden Commodore VZ
11.  Jason Richards      Holden Commodore VZ
12.  Steven Richards     Holden Commodore VZ
13.  Jason Bright        Ford Falcon BA
14.  Cameron McConville  Holden Commodore VZ
15.  Paul Dumbrell       Holden Commodore VZ
16.  Todd Kelly          Holden Commodore VZ
17.  Jason Bargwanna     Ford Falcon BA
18.  Jamie Whincup       Holden Commodore VZ
19.  Steven Johnson      Ford Falcon BA
20.  Mark Winterbottom   Ford Falcon BA
21.  Max Wilson          Holden Commodore VZ
22.  David Brabham       Ford Falcon BA
23.  Lee Holdsworth      Holden Commodore VZ
24.  Glenn Seton         Ford Falcon BA
25.  David Besnard       Ford Falcon BA
26.  Simon Wills         Holden Commodore VZ
27.  Craig Baird         Ford Falcon BA
28.  Paul Morris         Holden Commodore VZ
29.  John Bowe           Ford Falcon BA
30.  Owen Kelly          Holden Commodore VZ
31.  Matthew White       Ford Falcon BA
DNF  Steve Owen          Ford Falcon BA
DNF  Brad Jones          Ford Falcon BA