{"id":178415,"date":"2025-09-29T20:59:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T20:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/178415\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T20:59:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T20:59:14","slug":"ryan-briscoe-recounts-supercars-co-drive-with-grumpy-old-man-russell-ingall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/178415\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Briscoe recounts Supercars co-drive with \u2018grumpy old man\u2019 Russell Ingall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Briscoe
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRussell Ingall of Supercheap Auto Racing during the Dick Smith Sandown 500, event 10 of the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship at the Sandown International Motor Raceway.<\/p>\n

Briscoe was an on-again, off-again Supercars co-driver in the mid-2000s and early 2010s.<\/p>\n

The last came with Ingall at the 2013 Gold Coast 600 in a Supercheap Auto-backed Walkinshaw Racing-run entry. In his 14 race starts, the last finally bore fruit for Briscoe who claimed third.<\/p>\n

As Briscoe recalled, that was in the twilight of Ingall\u2019s career \u2013 though the 2005 champion would have you think otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI caught up with him [at Indianapolis] and that was awesome because he was like \u2018I got you your best trophy ever, the surfboard at Surfers\u2019,\u201d Briscoe told Speedcafe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was cool. Actually, it sits right up there. He was so much fun to be a teammate with, such a grumpy old man,\u201d Briscoe laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was on the verge of retirement. I remember being in the autograph line, everyone was coming up and people were saying, \u2018When will you retire?\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\tFull Credit to the Noise – Your light-hearted take on motorsport\u2019s biggest news Click here to listen<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he was like \u2018Well, I\u2019m not fucking dead!\u2019 He was getting pissed off with everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Russell<\/p>\n

Russell Ingall (right) with Ryan Briscoe at the 2013 Gold Coast 600.<\/p>\n

Briscoe made his Supercars debut in 2006 with the Holden Racing Team at a time when his open-wheel aspirations were on tenterhooks.<\/p>\n

He had finally reached the top of Mount Everest in 2004 as a Toyota test driver in Formula 1 but in 2005 wound up in the United States with Chip Ganassi Racing in the IndyCar Series.<\/p>\n

His spell there was short-lived. Briscoe was dumped at season\u2019s end and left to bounce between part-time drives in 2006 and 2007 with other IndyCar teams and the series\u2019 rival Champ Car.<\/p>\n

He also dabbled in A1 Grand Prix for Team Australia as well as the American Le Mans Series, Grand American Road Racing Championship, and the then-known V8 Supercars.<\/p>\n

Briscoe\u2019s time in Supercars is perhaps best described as fraught.<\/p>\n

His debut at the 2006 Sandown 500 was a standout though, taking provisional pole position ahead of HRT teammate Garth Tander before qualifying seventh in the Shootout.<\/p>\n

Briscoe and his teammate \u2018Gentleman\u2019 Jim Richards finished four laps down in 21st.<\/p>\n

\"Blair<\/p>\n

Blair Julian (left) with Ryan Briscoe (middle) and Robert Shwartzman. Image: Chris Jones<\/p>\n

A month later, his Bathurst 1000 debut lasted just 25 laps after Richards stuffed the #22 Holden VZ Commodore into the wall on the approach to Forest Elbow.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother special memory was getting provisional pole at Sandown,\u201d said Briscoe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I was seventh in the Top 10 Shootout. It was my first ever V8 experience and I think I kind of fluked a provisional pole \u2013 just sent it. but that was awesome.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then like a low was Bathurst. I never got to drive in the race because we shunted in the first stint before I even got in the car, so I went home and watched the race on TV.\u201d<\/p>\n

Briscoe returned in 2010 for another ill-fated campaign with Andrew Thompson in the Walkinshaw Racing-run Bundaberg-backed Holden VE Commodore.<\/p>\n

They finished seven laps down after suffering damage on the opening lap.<\/p>\n

His final Bathurst 1000 start came in 2013 with Ingall, where he finished 17th.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never really got a great experience at Bathurst,\u201d said Briscoe. \u201cBut I did do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Russell<\/p>\n

Russell Ingall\u2019s Supercheap Auto Holden VF Commodore.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 10 years since Briscoe last raced in the IndyCar Series.<\/p>\n

He ultimately never won the crown, but enjoyed five years with Team Penske. His best season was in 2009 when he fell short of the gong to Dario Franchitti.<\/p>\n

Despite the loss, Briscoe hailed the season finale his greatest drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe year I came third in the championship, it was down to the wire, the last race of the season, and the last race was Homestead,\u201d Briscoe recounted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was racing for the win in the championship and it was actually the best race of my life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way the points worked, I had to win. If either one of us \u2013 it was me, Dario and Dixon \u2013 whoever won the race would win the championship. But if I won and Dixon came second, he would win the championship still.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to win and lead the most laps, because you got an extra point for leading the most laps, so Dixon knew that he couldn\u2019t let me lead the most laps. We\u2019re just flat out, trading lead laps, and I\u2019m leading the most laps. We couldn\u2019t let up and just cruise.<\/p>\n

\u201cFranchitti knew he couldn\u2019t keep up, so he just went into fuel save mode. And then we didn\u2019t have a single caution. We just needed one caution and I would have made it on the strategy we were doing and then we didn\u2019t have a single yellow.<\/p>\n

\u201cScott and I had to pit with four laps to go and Dario just cruised around and won the race and won the championships.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was such a good race for me. I was sort of doing everything I needed to do to win the championship and just fell short because we didn\u2019t get a yellow. It was tough.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I came second 11 times that year. Some of them, you were like, \u2018Oh man, could I have won?\u2019 Some of them were like second was a great result, and it\u2019s not like I didn\u2019t win races that year either but\u2026 anyway, it is what it is. Still a great experience and awesome racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/p>\n

Ryan Briscoe won the final IndyCar race on the streets of Surfers Paradise in 2008.<\/p>\n

Briscoe enjoyed a career that spanned more than two decades.<\/p>\n

His crowing glory, in his mind, was winning on the streets of the Gold Coast where he had grown up watching IndyCar.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Briscoe won the non-championship Indy 300 ahead of New Zealand\u2019s Scott Dixon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember going there, I think it was \u201898 or \u201899, watching (Alex) Zanardi win at Surfers, watching him do donuts at the end of the race in the last corner after he won,\u201d said Briscoe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was sort of my dream, and then to be able to go back in \u201808 and win it, I was like, I\u2019m doing donuts at the last corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was sort of reliving that image and that was really special. To do it in front of a home crowd and family and friends, that was amazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had so many incredible things happen throughout my career.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have just raced for Roger Penske, have him call my races for six years, including sports car, I mean, I just learned so much so much respect for him and the organisation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shaped me as a driver. They actually gave me my second chance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russell Ingall of Supercheap Auto Racing during the Dick Smith Sandown 500, event 10 of the 2012 V8…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,115240,12357,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-178415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-motor","11":"tag-motor-sports","12":"tag-motosport","13":"tag-motosports","14":"tag-ryan-briscoe","15":"tag-slot1","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}