HE has made no secret of the fact a Bathurst 1000 crown was one of the big motivators in his V8 Supercars return, but former champion Marcos Ambrose admits even he may not have been able to stop Jamie Whincup from becoming a record six-time series winner.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
And Ambrose says adding another V8 championship to his stunning resume next year is not on his radar.
Ambrose, 38, will make his much-anticipated V8 return as a wildcard entry at the Sydney 500 from December 5-7.
Mount Panorama did not prove a happy hunting ground for Ambrose before he headed to the United States after the completion of the 2005 V8 Supercars season.
He had twice placed in the top five – a fourth in 2004 and sixth in 2003 – but even a man who had such an impressive strike rate in V8 Supercars had not been able to step onto the Bathurst podium.
Asked what was left for him to achieve in the category, Ambrose said Mount Panorama was top of mind.
“I’m yet to win a Bathurst 1000,” he said.
“I’ve had five shots at it and have done an average job every go. That is certainly on the list.”
But winning at Mount Panorama will be no easy task for Ambrose, even though he will have plenty of kilometres in his new V8 Supercar by next October.
The standard of competition he faces will be high and the prospect of two-time V8 champion Ambrose finally going toe-to-toe with the dominant Whincup has caught Australian motor sport fans’ imagination.
Ambrose is seen by many as the man who can finally stop Whincup, who has won four straight V8 titles and six of the past seven.
Whincup also has an imposing Bathurst record of seven podiums from 12 starts, including four Great Race victories.
Some fans wonder what might have been if Ambrose had not left to try his luck in the US after winning 2003-04 V8 titles. But not the man himself.
“I am happy with my choices. I am very comfortable with what I have done,” he said.
“Jamie has done an exceptional job and deserves all of his championships.
“And he may well have done all of that while I was down here.”
No wonder Ambrose was happy with his US stint – he was one of only two non-American drivers who competed full-time for more than one NASCAR season.
He started in truck racing in 2006 and moved to the second-tier Nationwide category the next year before graduating to the elite Sprint Cup full-time in 2009.
“It was nothing but success for me,” Ambrose said.
“I went across there on a whim and tried to make it work.
“I survived for a long time, won races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup level and left on my own terms knowing I could compete against the best.”
Now back in Australia, Ambrose was asked if a V8 championship was possible in 2015.
“I don’t think anyone is thinking that,” he laughed.
“I have a fresh opportunity to come back into the series with a great team and we have to build it up into a championship-calibre team and it will take time.”
But there is no doubt that when Ambrose sees the green light at Mount Panorama next October a Bathurst 1000 win is something he will be thinking about.
