In just his fourth Shell Championship Series start, Marcos Ambrose has claimed his first round win in gruelling heat at Darwin's Hidden Valley circuit to position himself as the lead Ford driver in the category.

It is only the fourth victory for any Ford driver in the 40 rounds contested since the beginning of 1998. The Holden Racing Team pair of Jason Bright and Mark Skaife filled the remaining podium positions.

Ambrose qualified his Stone Brothers' prepared Pirtek Falcon in third place this weekend, and scored a second, fourth and third placings in the three races to secure the overall honours and move him to fourth in the title chase, the highest ranked Ford driver.

"I didn't anticipate how physically tough this round would be, it's very hot up here. This is up there with the best wins in my racing career," said the 24-year-old Tasmanian.

"It's great to come home and win in the premier category. I am really proud."

Ambrose is having his first taste of V8 Supercar racing in 2001, having returned to Australia after a stint in top-flight European open-wheeler competitions.

Bright was not the fastest man on the track this weekend, but blinding starts, fast pit stops and consistent, clean front-running earned him a 5/2/2 record for the weekend and second overall. He retains a handy points lead in the Series.

"The most difficult part of the weekend was qualifying in twelfth, but we got a great start in race one to get to fifth, and some great work in the pits by the team helped me move my way forward through the weekend," he said.

"I will be happy if I can keep it straight and end up on the podium every round."

Skaife was third after results of 14/3/1 in the three heats, a strong recovery from the defending champion who had to come back from a stop/go penalty issued for jumping the start from pole in the first race on Saturday.

"After Saturday's controversial start, this is a really good result," said Skaife.

"We chatted about what to do from 14th and decided that in this category, you never know what might happen. We just kept at it and got the points."

Race one winner, Russell Ingall, had tail shaft problems while leading in the dying stages of the second race in his Castrol Commodore. His victory hopes dashed, he fought back to ninth in the third heat for sixth overall. Ingall is third in the championship race, the closest rival to the HRT pair.

Greg Murphy looked best place for the round win after Ingall's demise, but he too fell victim to gremlins in his Kmart Holden when a sticking throttle cable in the third race forced him to slip from first to twelfth and fourth overall.

David Besnard finally found some form in the Caltex Ford, finishing fifth overall. Besnard was the second young hot-shot, along with Ambrose, signed by the Stone Brothers this year to spearhead their assault on the title. A very poor start to 2001 has been partly redeemed by his weekend's efforts.

"It's great to see Dave's form improve," said Ambrose. "It is important from the point of view of us operating effectively as a two-car team, sharing data and set-ups. It should be really good for us for the rest of the year."

Ambrose's win is the first for Ford this season after they have only been able to record one round win in each of the last three seasons. John Bowe won at Winton in 1998, Jason Bright won the corresponding Darwin round in 1999, and Paul Radisich won at Sandown last year.

"It's really great to be spearheading a new Ford challenge in 2001," said Ambrose. "Those HRT boys are a pretty formidable opposition, but we had a win this weekend so we can take confidence from that in to the remaining rounds.

"With each race, I am feeling more relaxed in the cockpit and I know I can do the job and that we have the car speed. I am only going to get better at qualifying, at my starts, at the pit stops, and there is still a lot of racing left in the season so I am looking forward to the experience." --PRESS RELEASE

**RACE TWO - TOP TEN**
1st GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing) - VX Commodore
2nd JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
3rd MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
4th MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon
5th DAVID BESNARD (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon
6th STEVEN RICHARDS (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
7th JASON BARGWANNA (Valvoline-Cummins Racing) - VX Commodore
8th TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore
9th LARRY PERKINS (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VX Commodore
10th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon

**RACE THREE - TOP TEN**
1st MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
2nd JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore
3rd MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon
4th STEVEN RICHARDS (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
5th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon
6th LARRY PERKINS (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VX Commodore
7th DAVID BESNARD (Caltex Havoline Racing) - AU Falcon
8th BRAD JONES (OzEmail Internet Racing) - AU Falcon
9th RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VX Commodore
10th CAMERON McLEAN (Greenfield Mowers Racing) - AU Falcon

**CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE**
1st JASON BRIGHT (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1132]
2nd MARK SKAIFE (Holden Racing Team) - VX Commodore [1078]
3rd RUSSELL INGALL (Castrol Perkins Racing) - VX Commodore [889]
4th MARCOS AMBROSE (Pirtek Racing) - AU Falcon [840]
5th GREG MURPHY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [835]
6th STEVEN JOHNSON (Shell Helix Racing) - AU Falcon [788]
7th TODD KELLY (K-Mart Racing Team) - VX Commodore [739]
8th GLENN SETON (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [728]
9th STEVEN RICHARDS (Ford-Tickford Racing) - AU Falcon [724]
10th CRAIG LOWNDES (Gibson Motorsport) - AU Falcon [655]

For complete race results:
http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?13/05/2001.HIDV