2003 – “Finally”

•    Ford’s new model is released and the highly anticipated BA Falcon replaces the AU.
•    Russell Ingall ‘The Enforcer’ makes the move to Ford and SBR to drive the Caltex Racing Falcon.
•    SBR continue their deliberate youth strategy with Mark Winterbottom driving the Milligans Food Group backed AU Falcon in the Konica V8 Supercar Series.
•    Russell Ingalls move to SBR and Ford proves to be a successful one - almost immediately. In his first outing for the team, at the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, Ingall wins a race and is classed as overall V8 Supercar winner for the weekend.  
•    Pirtek and Caltex merge liveries to allow for Ambrose and Ingall to pair up in the enduro rounds. Mark Winterbottom and Mark Noske together pilot the second car for SBR.
•    Russell continues to impress his new team winning both rounds at the QLD 300 and Gillette V8 Supercar Challenge on the Gold Coast.
•    Marcos Ambrose dominates the Series and is crowned V8 Supercar Champion at Eastern Creek finishing 102 points clear of second place.
•    ‘The shriek at the creek’ - Ingalls year ends on a sour note after a controversial incident with HRT’s Mark Skaife in the final round of the Championship at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway.
•    In a stellar year SBR also clean up the Konica Series with Mark Winterbottom winning the championship after 4 round wins and 5 pole positions from 5 rounds.
•    Marcos Ambrose wins the pole position award for most in a season after starting from P1 on the grid five times.
•    For the second time an SBR driver is named Mike Cable Rookie of the Year with the award presented to 23 year old Mark Winterbottom.
•    Russell Ingall presents Marcos Ambrose with the Barry Sheene Medal, an award for his leadership, personality, fan appeal and sportsmanship.

Comments from Ross

“Winning the championship was a dream of Jimmy's and mine from the beginning. It was a shame that Howard Marsden never got to see what a successful race car the BA became. Howard was a big supporter of ours and I remember thinking of him when Marcos crossed the line as champion.

The day we won the title the celebration was short lived as I spent the night in the steward’s office with Russell after his incident with Skaife.

At one point Marcos had won four rounds in a row in an unbelievable streak winning at Eastern Creek, Winton, Barbagallo and Hidden Valley. We were pushing for a record breaking 5th straight round win only to have Russell in our other car take the chequered flag at QLD Raceway with Marcos in 2nd place.

Winning at Eastern Creek reminded me of a moment in New Zealand back when a younger Mark Skaife won the championship, I went up and congratulated him and told him 'we were going to do everything to take this off you some day'. Itwas ironic sitting opposite him in the steward’s office that night.

We had two great drivers that were complete opposites but worked well together. The championship win was a combination of all overnight successes that took Jimmy and I over 25 years.”