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HomeNewsBathurstMARCOS AMBROSE TO MAKE RACING RETURN AT BATHURST

MARCOS AMBROSE TO MAKE RACING RETURN AT BATHURST

DON’T call it a comeback, but Marcos Ambrose will pause his retirement from driving to race in this year’s Bathurst 6 Hour.

The multiple Supercars Champion and NASCAR Cup Series race-winner will join George Miedecke aboard a brand new Ford Mustang GT being built by Garry Rogers Motorsport for the race.

“It’s not a comeback – it’s a celebration, to be with George and Andrew and the Miedecke group and I’m looking forward to it,” Ambrose said.

 “I go back a long way with the Miedecke family, George came and raced in the (NASCAR) Late Model program with us while I was racing NASCAR, and I know Andrew from way back too.

“I was proud to say yes, I’ll come and celebrate the past with them at Bathurst. 

“We’ve built this new Mustang and we’re really excited to get it on the track. The 6 Hour will be a fun race to do and to get back behind the wheel will be celebrating not only the car build, but my long relationship with the Miedecke’s. 

Miedecke and Ambrose in 2011, when the former raced for the latter’s Late Model team in the United States. Pic: Supplied

“George is a fantastic person. He really came close to making it in the ‘states – he’s a pro driver who never quite made that last jump. 

“We’re (Garry Rogers Motorsport) part of the car build, I’ve been part of the project throughout the build and hopefully we’re going to be a contender.”

Listen to the Marcos Ambrose episode of the V8 Sleuth Podcast!

Ambrose’s last competitive race came at the 2015 Gold Coast 600 before taking an extended break from the sport, burnt out from a decade of racing on the NASCAR ladder.

He’s made baby steps back in recent years; he drove demonstration laps at the 2020 Adelaide 500, turned laps in Will Davison’s Dick Johnson Racing Supercar at Symmons Plains last year, joined Garry Rogers Motorsport as its competition director, and last weekend was inducted in the Tasmanian Motorsport Hall of Fame.

The Mustang is currently being built up at Garry Rogers Motorsport. Pic: Supplied

Ambrose has been famously unlucky at Mount Panorama in the past.

Six Bathurst 1000 campaigns netted a best result of fourth place in 2004, a pole position on debut in 2001, and a series of high-profile heartbreaks.

The Mustang is an outright contender – Miedecke finished fifth outright and first in class aboard one in last year’s race with Paul Morris and Brodie Kostecki – but a Ford has yet to win the 6 Hour, which has been dominated by BMW since its inception in 2016.

A capacity grid of 70 cars, set to be the largest ever grid to tackle an endurance race at Mount Panorama, will contest the 2022 Bathurst 6 Hour on Easter Sunday, April 17.

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