Motorsport: Still to be etched in Stone

V8 Supercar driver Marcos Ambrose with team owners Ross (left) and Jimmy Stone. Photo / Supplied

Ross and Jimmy Stone are probably New Zealand's most successful motorsport team since the days of the late Bruce McLaren. Their Stone Brothers racing team dominated the V8 Supercars series in the middle of the last decade and they have been at the forefront of most Ford success at Bathurst.

But they were unable to claim the New Zealand round during the seven years at Pukekohe, despite several near misses, and have been unsuccessful since the event moved to Hamilton in 2008.

"It's the one thing missing in our resume," admits Ross Stone. "We have been so close but there is no use getting frustrated. Last year we were very disappointed - and it won't be any easier this year."

In 2010, both Shane van Gisbergen (race one) and Alex Davison (race two) did not finish and van Gisbergen's seventh on the Sunday barely rescued a miserable weekend. The year before the duo recorded positions of 9th, 17th, 10th and 15th over the two races. You need to go back to 2008 for a modicum of success, with a young van Gisbergen managing a fifth place in the second race for seventh overall.

Pukekohe was much sweeter, though always without the final flourish. They finished runners-up in 2004 and 2005 and ended the weekend third on three other occasions (2001, 2002 and 2006).

Originally the New Zealand duo were part of the Alan Jones Racing team, formed in 1996, with the 1980 Formula One world champion Jones as the lead driver. The brothers, with Ross as the team manager and Jimmy the chief engineer, bought out Jones' ownership stake in 1998. Their association with the V8 Supercars series goes further back, with the pair engineers behind Dick Johnson's victorious Bathurst campaign in 1994.

Stone says the most difficult part of being team boss is making sure everyone shares in the vision.

"It's all about people and it always takes time for it all to work," says Stone. "It is about making sure you are sticking to targets and getting those targets right."

He also admits the process of hiring, and especially firing, can be tough: "That [kind] of thing is always a challenge but overall what we do is very rewarding - it is hard to beat."

Aside from their undoubted Kiwi heritage - Stone estimates about half of the 60-strong operation have ties to New Zealand - the brothers are most famous for their predilection for backing young, up-and-coming drivers. They have helped to launch the careers of such luminaries as Marcos Ambrose, Russell Ingall, Mark Winterbottom and current V8 Supercars champion James Courtney.

"It has always been our style," says Stone. "In 1998 we took on Jason Bright and people told us we wouldn't get sponsorship. We ended up winning Bathurst.

It is always a balance to manage, he says. "How will they handle the media demands, the sponsor requirements - let alone everything associated with performing on the track. You can't have any weaknesses and have to be able to do it all.

"We always look for good, young drivers - though they have to have a lot of potential. In the end it is all about the championship and we want to win another one."

2009 Australian Formula Ford Championship runner-up Alex Davison and local hope Shane van Gisbergen are their latest crop.

The 21-year-old van Gisbergen has the pedigree on temporary street circuits, performing with aplomb in Adelaide this year and in the Gold Coast and Homebush rounds in 2010.

After finishing sixth overall in the championship last season, many experts expect the Auckland-born flyer to break through for a debut race win in 2011.