Marcos Ambrose

Marcos Ambrose (born September 1, 1976 in Launceston, Tasmania) is an Australian racing driver. He was the Australian V8 Supercar champion in 2003 and 2004, and is credited for virtually single-handedly reviving Ford Racing in Australia, after years of Holden domination.

In 2006 he raced in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, piloting the #20 Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards Ford for Team Australia. He moved up to the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series, driving the #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion for Wood Brothers/JTG Racing.

Early Years

Ambrose began racing karts at the age of ten. He won four Tasmanian state junior karting titles and was the Australian karting champion in 1995 in the Clubman Heavy class at the Dubbo circuit in New South Wales driving for Tony Kostelnak Racing.

He moved into Formula Ford in 1996. The Ambrose family have a rich history in this formula as Marcos' father Ross Ambrose, along with Ralph Firman Sr, co-founded Formula Ford chassis builder Van Diemen. Ambrose finished second in the Australian Formula Ford championship in 1997.

In 1998 Ambrose moved to Europe in a bid to reach Formula 1, competing in British Formula Ford in 1998 and 1999. In 1999 he won the European Formula Ford Championship. In 2000 he began the season racing in the French Formula 3 Championship, before switching mid-season to the British Formula 3 Championship.

At the end of 2000 Ambrose did not have the budget to continue in racing in Europe, and returned to Australia. In October 2000 he was invited to compete in a Young Guns invitational race held at the Gold Coast Indy 300. Ambrose won against a host of young drivers in Honda road cars.

He also represented Australia in the 1996 EFDA Nations Cup at Donington Park in England.

2001-2005: V8 Supercars Australia

For 2001 Ambrose was signed by Stone Brothers Racing to drive the Pirtek Racing Ford Falcon. Ambrose stunned the V8 Supercar world when he qualified on pole for his first ever V8 Supercar race, supporting the Australian Grand Prix (a non-championship event before the championship season). Qualified on pole again in round three at Eastern Creek Raceway, round 9 at Queensland Raceway and round 11, the Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama Circuit.

Ambrose went on to finish eighth in the championship, winning the Rookie of the Year award. He won the fourth round of the season, at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, although he did not win any of the three races in the round.

The 2002 season saw Ambrose start the season snaring the pole position at Phillip Island before recording his debut race win in the first race. He eventually finished third in the V8 Supercar Championship.

With a new BA Falcon, Ambrose gave the Ford team a great start to the 2003 season with victory in the first race of the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide. He followed this fantastic start with a third career win at Eastern Creek Raceway where he led Ford home to a memorable 1-2-3 at the Sydney track. This was Ford's first clean sweep of the podium since Eastern Creek 1997 and Ambrose’s first win for the season. After 13 rounds in the 2003 V8 Supercar Series, Ambrose was presented with the driver’s series trophy, 102 points clear of second place.

In 2004 Ambrose claimed three pole positions and five round wins and went into the final round at Eastern Creek Raceway with a virtually unbeatable lead. In the end he collected his second championship in the opening Saturday night race and then went on to clean-sweep the round in record-breaking style in his Pirtek Falcon. This was the first time Ford had won back-to-back titles since 1988-89. Teammate Russell Ingall also drove a superb final round to finish second in the championship, giving Stone Brothers Racing a memorable 1-2 Quinella finish.

Ambrose won the coveted Barry Sheene Medal in 2003 and 2004.

He started 2005 the way he ended 2004 with a clean sweep of the opening round in Adelaide. He remained in the championship lead until Round 10 at the Bathurst 1000 when he was involved in a controversial crash with Greg Murphy approaching The Cutting on the way up 'The Mountain' late in the race. The two drivers, infuriated with one another, shared some heated words after the crash.

Greg's probably going to blame me, because he tends to blame everyone but himself for these kinds of incidents. I knew that I was already 99% past him, I gave him a car-length and a half to go two-wide up into The Cutting, and I just got clean wiped out.|30px|30px|Marcos Ambrose|on a TV Interview after Bathurst 2005

This crash, combined with a poor performance at the co-hosted (with the Champ Cars) round on the Gold Coast arguably lost him a third straight title. He thereafter supported teammate Russell Ingall's title bid successfully, and the two helped Ford and Stone Brothers Racing take the Drivers, Teams, and Manufacturer's championships. Ambrose finished third in the championship behind Ingall and fellow Ford driver, and good friend Craig Lowndes.

Marcos is still the only driver to have a round win in every V8 Supercar season he has participated in.

2006: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

At the first V8 Supercar race of 2005, Ambrose called a press conference on the Saturday morning to announce that he would leave V8 Supercars at the end of the 2005 season to try and make a career in NASCAR.

The Ford Motor Company signed Ambrose to participate overseas in the United States with Wood Brothers/JTG Racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2006. However, Ambrose had to wait until part way through the 2006 season to begin. NASCAR did not clear Ambrose to race the NCTS' first three races, as they were held on intermediate to high-speed ovals, and like fellow Wood Brothers/JTG Racing driver Bobby East, Ambrose was not cleared to start in the faster races. Ambrose made his Truck Series debut on April 1 2006 at the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway, qualifying 20th and finishing 33rd after being caught up in an incident unfolding in front of him.

Ambrose is the first notable Australian driver in a NASCAR series event since Dick Johnson in 1990.

Ambrose made history by finishing third in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway on July 2, 2006. This was the first time a non-American driver has finished in the top five of a truck series event since Canadian Ron Fellows won on the Watkins Glen road course on June 26, 1999. He also took the lead in the opening laps, becoming the first Australian to lead laps in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competition. The next week, he made further history by scoring his first Bud pole position for the Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway, and then leading the most laps in the race itself, though he finished 19th. Ambrose scored his second podium result of his debut Craftsman Truck Series season, finishing 3rd in the Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville Superspeedway after qualifying 11th.

Ambrose reached as high as 19th in the championship points, but finished the season 21st overall and 3rd in the Rookie of the Year standings, despite having missed the first three races of the year.

2007-2008: Busch/Nationwide Series & Nextel/Sprint Cup Series

For 2007, Ambrose stepped up to the NASCAR Busch Series, driving the #59 Kingsford Ford Fusion fielded by Wood Brothers/JTG Racing, the same team he drove for in 2006 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. In the first two races of the 2007 season, he finished on the lead lap, in 16th and 25th, on tracks he had never previously raced on.In the third race of the season, the Telcel-Motorola México 200, Ambrose finished eighth, his career best at the time. having gained several positions in the last few laps of the race. He followed up his 8th place finish in Mexico with another top 10, finishing 10th in the Sam's Town 300 in Las Vegas, NV. He recorded a career best Busch Series finish of sixth after starting third at Dover in May .At the 2007 NAPA Auto Parts 200 NASCAR Busch Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal Ambrose was the dominant driver of the day, having led for 37 laps. After a caution period had finished, Ambrose had well-known Nextel Cup regular and Dakar Rally racer Robby Gordon behind him. At turn 3, Gordon successfully made a pass on Ambrose then the yellow flag came out. At the next corner, Ambrose rammed the left-rear of Gordon's car, spinning him out under yellow. Due to a caution being brought out earlier because of a large crash behind them, Gordon rejoined behind Ambrose. NASCAR officials ordered Gordon to move back to 14th position but he refused and was subsequently black-flagged. When they restarted, Gordon ran into the back of Ambrose at turn 2, spinning him around. Ambrose dropped back down the field but recovered to finish in 7th.Following this incident, Gordon made a peace offering to Ambrose in the form of a ride for the Watkins Glen road race, in Gordon's #77 Camping World Ford Fusion. However, qualifying was rained out and the field was set by owner's points, and the #77 did not make the race. In September, Ambrose skipped a second opportunity to drive the #77 car because his wife Sonja gave birth to their daughter Adelaide on the same day as the Cup race at Dover. Ambrose finished the 2007 season 8th in the points standings, highest of any driver not also competing in the Nextel Cup, and finished second behind David Ragan in the Rookie of the Year standings. On Sunday April 20, 2008, Ambrose was involved in a racing incident with Boris Said in the Nationwide Series event in Mexico. Ambrose admitted "getting into the back" of road course specialist Said, causing Said to wreck and ruining his chances at a race where Said has consistently finished in the top 10. After the race Said claimed that he wasn't mad at Ambrose, but wanted to apologize to (Ambrose's) crew chief because it was going to "cost him a car," implying that Said will wreck Ambrose intentionally next time they find themselves on a NASCAR track together. Though Ambrose has repeatedly apologized, in numerous subsequent public appearances Said has not backed down in his threatening of Ambrose, at one point suggesting he would not apologize but preferred to "beat (Ambrose's) ass". Prior to the 2008 season, Wood Brothers Racing and JTG Racing split into two teams. Ambrose will drive for both teams in Sprint Cup competition in 2008. He will run twelve races in the #21 car for Wood Brothers and another four in the #47 car for JTG Racing. He ran well in the Toyota-Save Mart 350 at Infineon, qualifying 7th out of 47 drivers and was running in the top three, but his #21 spun through the famous Turn 11 hairpin and blowing his transmission, finishing a disappointing 42nd in the 43-car field. He said he felt like beating (Elliott Sadler's) ass. He attempted to make his second career Sprint Cup start in the Lenox Industrial tools 301 at New Hampshire, but failed to qualify, qualifying 45 out of 45. Again, 43 cars would start, and again, he attempted to qualify the 21 car. He also plans to drive the full Nationwide Series schedule. On July 15 it was announced that Ambrose would run the full 2009 cup schedule with JTG Racing with a new partnership with Brad Daugherty. The team will be renamed JTG Daugherty Racing.

Ambrose got his first Nationwide Series win on August 9, 2008 in the Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen. The next day, he finished 3rd, after starting in 43rd position, in the Centurion Boats at the Glen, behind winner Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart.

References

Career results

Season	Series	Position	Car	Team
1996	Australian Formula Ford Championship	4th	Swift SC95K Ford
1997	Australian Formula Ford Championship	2nd	Van Diemen RF97 Ford
1998	British Formula Ford Championship	5th	Van Diemen RF98 Ford	Van Diemen
1999	British Formula Ford Championship	3rd	Van Diemen RF99 Ford	Van Diemen
1999	Formula Ford Euro Cup	1st	Van Diemen RF99 Ford
2000	French Formula 3 Championship	12th	Martini Mk.79 Sodemo-Renault	Mygale
2000	British Formula 3 Championship	16th	Dallara F300 Mugen-Honda	Alan Docking Racing
2001	V8Supercar Championship Series	8th	Ford Falcon AU	Stone Brothers Racing
2002	V8Supercar Championship Series	3rd	Ford Falcon AU	Stone Brothers Racing
2003	V8Supercar Championship Series	1st	Ford Falcon BA	Stone Brothers Racing
2004	V8Supercar Championship Series	1st	Ford Falcon BA	Stone Brothers Racing
2005	V8Supercar Championship Series	3rd	Ford Falcon BA	Stone Brothers Racing
2006	NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series	21st	Ford F-150	Wood Brothers/JTG Racing
2007	NASCAR Busch Series	8th	Ford Fusion	Wood Brothers/JTG Racing