Hill's special ties to Ambrose, SVG through veteran engineer

Cameron Hill became 87th winner in Supercars/ATCC history in Melbourne
Hill has worked closely with two-time championship engineer Paul Forgie since 2023
Forgie a long-time Stone Brothers Racing engineer, with three of his drivers becoming champions

Marcos Ambrose, Shane van Gisbergen, and now Cameron Hill.

All three drivers now have one thing in common after Hill claimed his maiden victory in a historic one-two finish for Matt Stone Racing at the MSS Security Melbourne SuperSprint.

All three drivers have had their early Supercars careers and first wins overseen by Paul Forgie.

Although Forgie is no longer the lead race engineer for Hill, with Caleb Mutsaerts joining the team from Dick Johnson Racing in the off-season, he still works closely with Canberran, whom he engineered in his first two seasons at MSR.

Forgie, now MSR's Technical Coordinator, has played a big role in Hill's development throughout his first two seasons with the Yatala team, and was on hand at Albert Park to witness Hill's breakthrough weekend.

Hill claimed his maiden front row start and podium in Supercars on Thursday in Melbourne, before backing up on Friday with his first career Supercars victory in his 58th career start, all within the space of 36 hours.

The 28-year-old could've easily doubled his win tally on Sunday with another front row start, however heavy rain lashed the streets of Melbourne, forcing the race to be abandoned.

Fittingly, it was Forgie who was the nominated teams representative to take to the podium on Friday, 14 years after his last trip to the Supercars podium.

Forgie was engineered van Gisbergen in 2011, a campaign where he claimed an emotional first victory at Hamilton in New Zealand, before winning again in Darwin.

When asked on Supercars’ Cool Down Lap podcast about what it was like to stand on the podium, Forgie said “I’ve sort of been out of Supercars for a little while, I guess.

“Last time would have been with Shane van Gisbergen in Darwin [2011], was the last time.”

When told he had stood on the podium for van Gisbergen and Hill’s first wins, Forgie quipped: “Probably Marcos Ambrose's first win as well.”

Forgie rose to prominence in the early 2000s when Ambrose burst onto the Supercars scene, rapidly establishing himself as the top Ford challenger to the might of the Holden Racing Team.

The change to Project Blueprint regulations in 2003 saw Ambrose, Forgie, and SBR become an unstoppable force in Supercars, claiming back-to-back titles before Ambrose left for NASCAR in 2006.

Now back within the Stone family fold, Forgie has been highly encouraged by the progress made by Matt Stone Racing since the beginning of last season, and says now is the time to capitalise on the progress.

“It’s fantastic, we've all been working super hard and improving every week and trying to do a better job,” Forgie said.

“Every single person in the whole team is just doing a better job every week. And we've got a few new guys this year, they’re all gelling and working well together.

“It’s a tight knit little team. If you want to have both cars running well, you've got to have everybody working together for the same goal and pulling in the same direction.

“We know we've got a lot of work still to do, and we can be better. We've got to do it every week. We've proved to everybody as well as ourselves that we can do it.

“Now we have to follow it up.”

The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship will resume in New Zealand at the ITM Taupō Super 440 on April 11-13. Tickets for the event are on sale now.