Stone Brothers Racing

Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) is one of the motorsport teams competing in the Australian V8 Supercar series, formed in 1998 by experienced New Zealand-born motorsport veterans, Ross Stone and Jim Stone after buying out their partner in their previous racing team. The team enjoyed a period of considerable success in the 2003, 2004 and 2005 seasons, in which it was the dominant team of V8 Supercar racing.

SBR has won three driver championships, with Marcos Ambrose in 2003/2004; and Russell Ingall in 2005. SBR has won the Team Championship (combined points of both cars) in 2004 and 2005, the former being a 1-2 finish with the aforementioned Ambrose and Ingall respectively. 2003 also saw SBR win the V8 Development Series with Mark Winterbottom at the wheel. In 1998, SBR won the Bathurst 1000 with Jason Bright and Steven Richards at the wheel of the team's Falcon.

SBR began with, and continue to campaign Ford Falcons. The team is also one of the leading engine builders in the V8 Supercars, supplying Triple Eight Race Engineering, Brad Jones Racing and Paul Cruickshank Racing with the powerful 5.0L SBRE V8. Recently, SBR has also agreed to a technical alliance with Team Kiwi Racing after the latter fell out with previous partner Ford Performance Racing.

With Russell Ingall and title sponsor Caltex departing the team at the conclusion of the 2007 season, the driver #9 Falcon for the 2008 season is Shane Van Gisgergen. James Courtney will continue to drive the #4 JELD-WEN Motorsport car.

SBR uses Queensland Raceway in Ipswich as their test track.

History

SBR began in 1998, signing Jason Bright to drive a Pirtek-sponsored EL Falcon. Bright had a mixed year, with the highlight being a win in the Bathurst 1000 with co-driver Steven Richards. The team continued to show promise in 1999, with Bright scoring three poles, and three podiums including a win at the Hidden Valley Raceway round.

Bright left the team as it expanded to a two-car operation, with Craig Baird taking his seat in the Pirtek car, while Tony Longhurst drove the new Caltex-sponsored entry. In a lean year, the team's best finish was a podium for Baird at Phillip Island.

SBR then opted for some young talent for the 2001 season, with Marcos Ambrose and David Besnard taking over the driving duties in the Pirtek and Caltex Falcons respectively. Ambrose won a round, took two podiums, and impressed with his qualifying speed. Besnard had a mixed year, taking one podium. Both drivers remained with the team for the 2002 season, and took three round wins between them; including a Queensland 500 enduro victory for Besnard, and a dominant win at Sandown Raceway for Ambrose.

In 2003, Ambrose continued to drive the Pirtek-sponsored SBR Falcon, but star driver Russell Ingall took over for the FPR-bound Besnard in the Caltex car. 2003 saw the introduction of the Project Blueprint parity rules, and the new BA Falcon for Ford, and the VY Commodore for Holden. On this new playing field, SBR was the dominant force, with Ambrose winning the championship and Ingall finishing 7th. Between them they won eight of thirteen rounds (6 to Ambrose, 2 for Ingall). Ambrose took 5 pole positions. Meanwhile, Mark Winterbottom won the Level Two Development Series in an SBR Falcon.

This dominance continued in the 2004 season, with Ambrose winning a second championship and Ingall finishing 2nd overall, giving SBR a historic 1-2 championship finish. The team recorded 6 round wins - 5 to Ambrose and 1 to Ingall.

Among these round victories was an outstanding Sandown 500 victory to Ambrose and co-driver Greg Ritter - a race where Ambrose reset the lap record. The same race saw Ingall and his co-driver Cameron McLean come in 2nd for a 1-2 race finish.

In 2005, Ingall won the championship, finally shedding the dubious "bridesmaid" tag. Consistency and strategy, rather than outright speed and wins were crucial to Ingall's win. Ambrose had led the championship until he was taken out of the Bathurst 1000 by Greg Murphy. He went on to finish 3rd behind Ingall and Craig Lowndes. Ingall won a single round, while Ambrose took victories in the first and last rounds of the year. Both took multiple podiums, while Ambrose managed a pair of pole positions.

In both 2004 and 2005, SBR won the Team's Championship by comfortable margins.

2006 saw Ambrose leave V8 Supercar to pursue a career in NASCAR, and Pirtek withdrew its sponsorship. Former F1 Test Driver James Courtney was signed to drive the #4 car, now sponsored by JELD-WEN. Ingall continued in the Caltex entry, but couldn't defend his title - eventually finishing a disappointing eighth. Courtney improved throughout the season to finish 11th, and won Rookie of the Year. The highlight of the year was the team's performance at Bathurst, with Courtney and co-driver Glenn Seton third, with Ingall and co-driver Luke Youlden coming in fourth.

Ingall and Courtney continued driving for SBR in 2007, which proved to be an inconsistent season. Courtney scored round podiums in Adelaide, Bathurst and Bahrain, and a pole position in Adelaide; while Ingall managed a podium on the Gold Coast. Along with these strong results came disappointing ones.

It was announced that both Caltex and driver of car #9 Russell Ingall would leave the team after the completion of the 2007 series. The new driver for the 2008 season is Shane Van Gisbergen and SP Tools will be the new title sponsor on car #9. Courtney and JELD-WEN continue to be the driver and title sponsor respectively on car #4.

The Stone Brothers

Ross and Jim Stone, two New Zealand-born brothers, are the team manager and chief engineer of SBR respectively. Ross won the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship twice in the 1970's. Since then, the Stone Brothers have been behind several winning teams, before forming Pack Leader Racing with former world champion, Alan Jones in 1996. The brothers bought out Jones' share in the team after two seasons and the team was re-named Stone Brothers Racing in 1998. A highlight of their pre-SBR career was engineering the winning Falcon with Dick Johnson Racing at Bathurst in 1994.

External links

* [http://www.stonebrothersracing.com.au/ Stone Brothers Racing Official Website]
* [http://www.v8supercars.com.au/ V8 Supercars Official Website]
* [http://www.v8supercar.com.au/news/latestnews/newsdisplay.asp?Ind=&author=&gid=32677154 Ingall and Caltex leave Stone Brothers Racing]