Former V8 Supercar champion, Marcos Ambrose has announced he’s quitting NASCAR and returning to V8 Supercars in 2015.
FORMER V8 SUPERCAR champion (2003 and 2004), Marcos Ambrose announced he was leaving NASCAR earlier in the week after six years in the series. The rumour mill immediately began grinding away that he was heading home to return to V8 Supercars.
And, it’s true. He is. Ambrose who drives in NASCAR for Team Penske will take a seat in a joint venture between Team Penske and Dick Johnson Racing (DJR), kicking off in 2015.
“Team Penske is excited to partner with Dick Johnson Racing to compete in the V8 Supercars Championship starting next season,” said Roger Penske in a statement. “We believe in building our businesses through racing and our success on the track. With our new business ventures in Australia, it makes sense to showcase our brands through the V8 Supercars Championship and the opportunity to work with DJR and Marcos Ambrose convinced us to go forward.”
“This is a great opportunity to return home to a place that I love in a Series where I’ve experienced a lot of success,” said Ambrose, who has earned two career victories at the highest level of NASCAR competition – the Sprint Cup Series. “It will be an honor to race for two motorsport legends in Roger Penske and Dick Johnson.”
“We are certainly looking forward to this new challenge,” said Dick Johnson, who claimed five Australian Touring Car Championships and won the Bathurst 1000 race three times before he retired from racing in 1999. “I have always admired what Roger Penske has accomplished in business and with his racing teams and it will be a thrill to work with Team Penske and Marcos in 2015.”
Ambrose debuted in NASCAR in 2008 and has won five Nationwide Series races and two Sprint Cup races (he competed in Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series). All of those victories have been on the road course at Watkins Glen which is telling, but the victories make Ambrose the most successful foreigner to compete in the American stock car series.
