2003 V8 Supercars Darwin round
Motor race
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The 2003 V8 Supercars Darwin round was the sixth round of the 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It was held on the weekend of 27 to 29 June at the Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, Northern Territory.
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| Event Information | ||||||||||||||
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| Round 6 of 13 in the 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series | ||||||||||||||
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| Date | 27–29 June 2003 | |||||||||||||
| Location | Darwin, Northern Territory | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Hidden Valley Raceway | |||||||||||||
| Weather | Sunny | |||||||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||||||
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The weekend was a close-fought battle between the forerunners of the Holden and Ford marques – Mark Skaife and Marcos Ambrose. Each driver traded sessions with Ambrose claiming provisional pole position and Skaife striking back in the shootout to take pole position for the first race.[1][2] Skaife held off Ambrose to win the first race and in the second race, Ambrose would take victory after a late-race restart fiasco involving Jamie Whincup. The third and final race was won by Ambrose and thus allowed him to take overall round honours ahead of Skaife. Jason Bright would take third in overall points for the weekend to help maintain his championship lead.[3][4]
Background
The event was held on the weekend of 27 to 29 June 2003. It was the sixth V8 Supercar event to be held at Hidden Valley Raceway and consisted of one 50 km opener followed by two 100 km races with compulsory pitstops in each.
Entry list
There were 34 drivers entered into the event. It featured mixture of vehicle models - six AU Ford Falcon's, thirteen BA Falcon's, six VY Commodore's, and ten VX Commodore's.
Amidst dispute regarding charter contracts, Greg Ritter returned to 00 Motorsport after missing the previous round in Perth. With the teams situation becoming increasingly turbulent, this would ultimately mark the final round 00 Motorsport would compete in. The Racing Entitlement Contract was sold to Paul Weel Racing and the hardware in 2004 to WPS Racing.
David Thexton returned to the series after missing the previous round in Perth.
Race report
Qualifying
Marcos Ambrose claimed provisional pole position over Mark Skaife over a tenth of a second. As often was the case, David Thexton failed to qualify for the event after posting a time three tenths shy of the 105% ruling.
Top ten shootout
| Pos | No | Name | Team | Vehicle | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Mark Skaife |
Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore (VY) | 1:08.6282 |
| 2 | 4 | Marcos Ambrose |
Stone Brothers Racing | Ford Falcon (BA) | 1:08.6411 |
| 3 | 51 |  Greg Murphy |
John Kelly Racing | Holden Commodore (VX) | 1:08.9303 |
| 4 | 50 | Jason Bright |
Paul Weel Racing | Holden Commodore (VX) | 1:09.0332 |
| 5 | 9 | Russell Ingall |
Stone Brothers Racing | Ford Falcon (BA) | 1:09.2540 |
| 6 | 34 | Garth Tander |
Garry Rogers Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VY) | 1:09.2924 |
| 7 | 6 | Craig Lowndes |
Ford Performance Racing | Ford Falcon (BA) | 1:09.3161 |
| 8 | 65 | Paul Radisich |
Briggs Motorsport | Ford Falcon (BA) | 1:09.5238 |
| 9 | 888 | John Bowe |
Brad Jones Racing | Ford Falcon (BA) | 1:09.6305 |
| 10 | 2 | Todd Kelly |
Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore (VY) | 1:09.7555 |
| Source:[5] | |||||
Race 1
Race 2
Race 3
Championship standings
| Pos. | No | Driver | Team | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
1 | 50 | Jason Bright |
Paul Weel Racing | 1027 |
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2 | 11 | Steven Richards |
Perkins Engineering | 992 |
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3 | 4 | Marcos Ambrose |
Stone Brothers Racing | 973 |
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4 | 51 | Greg Murphy |
John Kelly Racing | 951 |
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5 | 1 | Mark Skaife |
Holden Racing Team | 929 |