Marcos Ambrose | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ambrose at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2012
|
|||||||
Nationality | Australian | ||||||
Born |
Launceston, Tasmania, Australia |
1 September 1976 ||||||
Supercars Record | |||||||
Car number | 17 | ||||||
Current team | DJR Team Penske | ||||||
Series championships | 2 (2003, 2004) | ||||||
Races | 147 | ||||||
Race wins | 28 | ||||||
Podium finishes | 66 | ||||||
Pole positions | 18 | ||||||
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
227 races run over 7 years | |||||||
2014 position | 23rd | ||||||
Best finish | 18th (2009, 2012) | ||||||
First race | 2008 Toyota/Save Mart 350 (Sonoma) | ||||||
Last race | 2014 Ford EcoBoost 400 (Homestead) | ||||||
First win | 2011 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen (Watkins Glen) | ||||||
Last win | 2012 Finger Lakes 355 at The Glen (Watkins Glen) | ||||||
|
|||||||
NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
77 races run over 7 years | |||||||
2014 position | 85th | ||||||
Best finish | 8th (2007) | ||||||
First race | 2007 Orbitz 300 (Daytona) | ||||||
Last race | 2014 Zippo 200 at the Glen (Watkins Glen) | ||||||
First win | 2008 Zippo 200 at the Glen (Watkins Glen) | ||||||
Last win | 2014 Zippo 200 at the Glen (Watkins Glen) | ||||||
|
|||||||
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career | |||||||
22 races run over 1 year | |||||||
Best finish | 21st (2006) | ||||||
First race | 2006 Kroger 250 (Martinsville) | ||||||
Last race | 2006 Ford 200 (Homestead) | ||||||
|
|||||||
Statistics current as of 16 November 2014. |
Marcos Ambrose (born 1 September 1976) is an Australian retired racing driver. He won the Australian V8 Supercar series' championship in 2003 and 2004.
In 2006, Ambrose relocated to the United States to pursue racing in NASCAR, starting with the Camping World Truck Series. He moved up to the Nationwide Series in 2007, and later the Sprint Cup Series in 2008. In 2011, he earned his first Cup Series win at Watkins Glen International, becoming the first Australian driver to win in the highest level of NASCAR, and repeated that win in the following year.
Ambrose grew up in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, the son of another racing driver, Ross Ambrose and was educated at Scotch Oakburn College. He 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. He moved into Formula Ford in 1996. Ambrose finished second in the Australian Formula Ford championship in 1997.
In 1998 Ambrose moved to Europe in a bid to reach Formula One, 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 Three Championship, before switching mid-season to the British Formula Three 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.