The 2004 season has been one of the best on record for the Ford Racing V8 Supercar program in Australia.

Not only were Stone Brothers Racing duo Marcos Ambrose and Russell Ingall the first teammates to take the top two spots in the championship since Glenn Seton and Alan Jones in 1993, other Ford teams completed strong seasons.

With most of the attention focused on the achievement of Ambrose and his back-to-back championship titles, the likes of Orrcon Steel Racing, OzEmail Racing and Shell Helix Racing provided Ford with five drivers in the championship top-ten.

Orrcon driver Jason Bargwanna was a model of consistency during 2004. He finished in the top-ten overall on seven occasions, including a third place finish at the Gold Coast Indy event. Also of note was the reliability of his Falcon, failing to finish just twice out of 26 individual races.

He finished eighth in the championship chase and was understandably upbeat about recording his best result aboard a Falcon and his highest Championship result since he finished seventh in 2001.

"It is an absolutely fantastic result for the team," he said. "What the team has achieved over the last 12 months has been outstanding, now we look to move forward and aim to be in the top five.

"This year has been the perfect platform to build on for our 2005 campaign, especially when many of the other teams along pit lane will be settling in with new drivers and combinations."

For team owner Mark Larkham the reward of being Ford's next-best team to the all conquering Stone Brothers Racing outfit was a highlight for his dedicated operation.

"At the start of the year we sat down as a team and set out to achieve our targets, which we have now achieved," he said. "To me it is all about human achievement, 18 dedicated people who all year were working towards a common goal of ensuring we had a car inside the top ten and become the second Ford team in the Championship.

"Now we look forward to even bigger and better things in 2005. I think our greatest asset and strength will be the stability of our tight knit team as we continually strive for bigger and better results."