2003 Betta Electrical Sandown 500

The 2003 Betta Electrical Sandown 500 was an endurance race for V8 Supercars. The event was staged at the Sandown International Raceway near Melbourne in Victoria, Australia on 14 September 2003 as Round 9 of the 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series. The programmed race distance was 161 laps of the 3.1 km circuit (499 km) however the race was declared at 141 laps (437 km) due to the effects of the weather and a 19-minute delayed start due to a support category incident. It was the 36th Sandown 500 endurance race.

2003 Betta Electrical Sandown 500

Event Information
Round 9 of 13 in the 2003 V8 Supercar Championship Series
Date	12–14 September 2003
Location	Melbourne, Victoria
Venue	Sandown International Raceway
Weather	Rain
Results
Race 1 Distance 141 laps 437 km Pole position Marcos Ambrose Stone Brothers Racing 1:11.8554 Winner Mark Skaife Todd Kelly Holden Racing Team 3:26:50.4750
Round Results First Mark Skaife Todd Kelly Holden Racing Team 192 pts Second Steven Ellery Luke Youlden Steven Ellery Racing 188 pts Third Greg Murphy Rick Kelly Kmart Racing Team 184 pts

The race was won by Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly driving a Holden VY Commodore.

Top 10 Shootout

Pos.[1]	No.[1]	Driver[1]	Entrant[1]	Car[1]	Time[1]
Pole	4	Marcos Ambrose	Pirtek Racing	Ford BA Falcon	1:11.8554
2	1	Mark Skaife	Holden Racing Team	Holden VY Commodore	1:12.2797
3	51	Greg Murphy	K-Mart Racing Team	Holden VY Commodore	1:12.3744
4	65	Paul Radisich	Betta Electrical	Ford BA Falcon	1:12.6438
5	44	Simon Wills	Team Dynamik	Holden VY Commodore	1:12.6448
6	17	Steven Johnson	Shell Helix Racing	Ford BA Falcon	1:12.6711
7	6	Craig Lowndes	Ford Performance Racing	Ford BA Falcon	1:12.6823
8	21	John Bowe	OzEmail Racing Team	Ford BA Falcon	1:12.9444
9	31	Steven Ellery	Super Cheap Auto racing	Ford BA Falcon	1:20.6263
10	29	Paul Morris	Sirromet - Life Style Wine	Holden VY Commodore	Excluded

Race results

Pos.[2]	No.[2]	Drivers[2][3]	Entrant[2]	Car[2]	Laps[2]	Qual Pos	Shootout Pos	Series Points
1	1	Mark Skaife Todd Kelly	Holden Racing Team	Holden VY Commodore	141	2	2	192
2	31	Steven Ellery Luke Youlden	Super Cheap Auto Racing	Ford BA Falcon	141	5	9	188
3	51	Greg Murphy Rick Kelly	K-Mart Racing Team	Holden VY Commodore	141	4	3	184
4	21	John Bowe Brad Jones	OzEmail Racing Team	Ford BA Falcon	141	8	8	180
5	4	Marcos Ambrose Russell Ingall	Pirtek Racing	Ford BA Falcon	140	3	1	176
6	11	Steven Richards Larry Perkins	Castrol Perkins Racing Team	Holden VY Commodore	140	21		172
7	65	Paul Radisich Rickard Rydell	Betta Electrical	Ford BA Falcon	140	1	4	168
8	19	David Besnard Owen Kelly	Ford Performance Racing	Ford BA Falcon	140	23		164
9	10	Jason Bargwanna Mark Larkham	Orrcon Racing	Ford BA Falcon	140	17		160
10	2	Jim Richards Tony Longhurst	Holden Racing Team	Holden VY Commodore	140	26		156
11	9	Mark Winterbottom Mark Noske	Caltex Havoline Race Team	Ford BA Falcon	140	14		152
12	15	Andy Priaulx Cameron McLean	K-Mart Racing Team	Holden VX Commodore	140	15		148
13	29	Paul Morris John Faulkner	Sirromet - Life Style Wine	Holden VY Commodore	139	9	EXC	144
14	66	Dean Canto Matthew White	Betta Electrical	Ford BA Falcon	139	18		140
15	17	Steven Johnson Warren Luff	Shell Helix Racing	Ford BA Falcon	139	7	6	136
16	6	Craig Lowndes Glenn Seton	Ford Performance Racing	Ford BA Falcon	139	10	7	132
17	5	Darren Hossack Adam Macrow	Ford Performance Racing	Ford BA Falcon	139	22		128
18	34	Garth Tander Nathan Pretty	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden VY Commodore	138	11		124
19	18	Max Wilson David Brabham	Shell Helix Racing	Ford BA Falcon	138	12		120
20	888	John Cleland Andrew Jones	OzEmail Racing Team	Ford BA Falcon	138	19		116
21	13	Steve Owen Phillip Scifleet	Robert Smith Racing	Holden VX Commodore	137	30		112
22	16	Greg Ritter Marcus Marshall	Team Brock	Holden VX Commodore	137	20		108
23	20	Grant Johnson Kerry Wade	Orrcon Racing	Ford AU Falcon	137	31		104
24	46	Dale Brede Tony Ricciardello	Holden Yound Lions	Holden VX Commodore	136	33		100
25	23	Rick Bates Neal Bates	INXS Team Ford	Ford AU Falcon	136	32		96
26	99	David Thexton Brett Peters	Thexton Motor Racing	Ford AU Falcon	133	35		92
27	24	Alan Gurr Andy McElrea	Romano Racing	Holden VX Commodore	133	34		88
28	45	Nicolas Minassian Wayne Wakefield	Team Dynamik	Holden VY Commodore	132	27		84
29	33	Jamie Whincup Allan Simonsen	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Holden VX Commodore	130	28		80
30	75	Anthony Tratt Paul Stokell	Toll Racing	Ford BA Falcon	128	29		76
31	50	Jason Bright Paul Weel	Team Brock	Holden VX Commodore	117	13		72
DNF	44	Simon Wills Jason Richards	Team Dynamik	Holden VY Commodore	139	6	5	68
DNF	8	Paul Dumbrell Tomas Mezera	Castrol Perkins Racing Team	Holden VX Commodore	113	24
DNF	021	Craig Baird (Mark Porter) +	Team Kiwi Racing	Holden VX Commodore	54	16
DNF	3	Cameron McConville (Tim Leahey) +	Lansvale Smash Repairs	Holden VX Commodore	13	25

+ Mark Porter did not drive car 021 during the race and Tim Leahey did not drive car 3 during the race.

Statistics

• Provisional Pole Position - #65 Paul Radisich - 1:11.0674
• Pole Position - #4 Marcos Ambrose - 1:11.8554
• Fastest Lap - #1 Mark Skaife - 1:12.0236
• Race Average Speed - 127 km/h