The V8 Supercar championship has been handed to Russell Ingall on a platter after the worst fears of his three nearest rivals came true on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

Ford driver Ingall finished fourth in the 31-lap race at Surfers Paradise behind New Zealander Greg Murphy, who led from start to finish at a canter to beat home Ford's Craig Lowndes and Holden's Mark Skaife.

But for departing two-times series champ Marcos Ambrose, Bathurst winner Todd Kelly and series contender Steven Richards, their title hopes were all but extinguished after disaster struck early in the race.

Ambrose was trailing Ingall by two points heading into the race but now finds himself 60 points behind, but still in second, after a clutch failure ended his race on lap two.

"That was pretty much crash and burn for the championship," lamented Ambrose.

"But we have to keep giving it our best shot.

"There are still eight races left in the championship and, as we saw today, anything can happen."

Kelly, who was 74 points behind Ingall before Saturday but is now 134 points back in third, had a major mechanical failure also on lap two, with thick clouds of smoke surrounding his Commodore.

"I am absolutely shattered," said Kelly.

"This has put a big dent in our championship."

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