Ambrose's race, Ingall's title

Ambrose completed his Sunday domination as he made it two from three for the weekend, taking his first round victory at the Phillip Island circuit. Greg Murphy continued a strong weekend to finish in second while Rick Kelly took third in the race and third overall in the round, as fourth-placed teammate Garth Tander finished second overall for the round.

But the big news was the guy in fifth place, Russell Ingall, who finally took his first V8 Supercar title. After taking over the lead in the points when his teammate Ambrose had problems on the Gold Coast, good but not great performances at the Gold Coast and in Tasmania had the people and the pundits wondering if he could hold onto the title after previous disappointments.

But he showed strength, as he showed pace and poise to clinch the title, finishing 57 points ahead of Lowndes, who in turn beat Ingall's teammate (and 2003 and 2004 series champion) Marcos Ambrose by nine points, securing a 1-2-3 finish for Ford in the drivers' standings. With Stone Brothers Racing winning the teams' title and Ford the Manufacturers' title, it was a perfect weekend for the Blue Oval.

It was not all doom and gloom for Holden, with Todd Kelly, Mark Skaife and Garth Tander about 100 points behind them, with Tander and teammate Rick Kelly showing impressive pace in the closing rounds of the season.

At the start Marcos Ambrose made a good start, while Garth Tander made a shocker and Craig Lowndes an average one. Meanwhile Ingall made a great start and was up to second as they prepared to enter turn one, with Rick Kelly on the outside of both of them.

Into turn one Lowndes went in by far the deepest as Ingall braked early to avoid running wide on the exit, this allowing Kelly to move ahead on the exit, while Steven Ellery squeezed through as they ran through turn two. From second on the entry to turn one, Ingall was now down to fifth.

It soon became clear he was faster than Ellery, and he tried to pass him as they completed lap two. But as Ingall got halfway alongside Ellery, Ellery moved over on Ingall, forcing Ingall to back off as he put two wheels on the grass. A lap later Ingall made the move as Ellery was given the bad sportsmanship flag.

A safety car for oil from Jamie Whincup's car followed soon after, before the race went back to green on lap six. Ambrose and Rick Kelly pitted at the end of the lap, with Tander coming in a lap later.

Lowndes and Ingall then pitted on lap eleven, with Lowndes resuming after Ambrose while Ingall lost out to both Greg Murphy and Rick Kelly.

With 13 laps remaining, Lowndes took a drive-through penalty for equipment being in the 'fast' lane in the pits as his team prepared for his pit stop. From second place, Lowndes dropped down to 27th place.

Now Lowndes' task was not to try to beat Ingall for the title, but to make sure race leader Ambrose didn't beat him to second, Lowndes needing to make up several places to ensure he took the runner's up place.

Just as it was looking a little tough for Lowndes to do so, a late-race caution wiped out Ambrose's twelve second lead and bunched Lowndes up to the cars in front of him. After the bad fortune with the penalty, Lowndes now received some good fortune.

The race restarted on lap 27, Ambrose edging away again as Lowndes restarted from 24th. On lap 31 an error from Rick Kelly into turn two allowed Murphy to sneak through into second just as the lead placing seemed cemented.

As Ambrose farewelled the series with a win ahead of Murphy and Kelly, with Tander fourth and champion Ingall fifth for the third race in a row. Meanwhile Lowndes had cut a swathe through the field, finishing the race in fifteenth to keep Ambrose in

Result of race three:

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