Marcos Ambrose

At an early age, Marcos showed signs of motor racing ability andwon 4 Tasmanian Junior Titles before commencing senior competition at an age of 16.
Leaving Australia to chase the elusive F1 dream in England in 1996, he learnt quickly and won regularly. He out-qualified Jenson Button in the 1998 British Formula Ford Festival and did the same to Kimi Raikonnenin '99 (they're both in F1 now) and was the 1999 European Formula Ford Champion.

Marcos made a big impact in his first V8Supercarrace at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix. He claimed pole position in the final minutes of qualifying -upsetting pole king, Holden's Mark Skaifeand setting a fastest lap.

In a few short years, fresh faced Ambrose has managed to compilean impressive record.

Despite his success, Marcos needed further financial backing to continue chasing his F1 dream which was elusive, so it was time to come home and show Australia what he had learnt.

The Stone Brothers Racing Team and Ford signed him to drive for them in the V8Supercarseries from 2001.

"Stone Brothers Racing took a risk with me," Ambrose says. "And I'd like to think the risk was a pretty good one as I finished 8th in the championship and won Rookie of the Year in my first season."

The round win at Hidden Valley in Darwin and Pole Position at the Bathurst 1000 were just some of the highlights of what promised to be an exciting V8 Supercar career. Marcos was awarded the CAMS Personality of the Year Award for 2001 along with Rookie of the Year.

2002 started with a bang.....snaring pole position at Phillip Island before recording his debut race win in the first race. Ambrose was consistently the fastest Ford all year and finished the season with a MarkSkaifelike performance at the Betta Electrical V8 Ultimate at Sandown, being the fastest in every session, winning the round and sealing third in the championship.Marcos also shared the award for the most number of pole positions with Mark Skaife taking 5 each throughout the series.

With a new BA Falcon, Marcos gave the Ford team a great start tothe 2003 season with victory in the first half of theClipsal500 in Adelaide.

And after13 rounds in the 2003 V8SupercarSeries, Marcos was presented with the drivers series trophy, 102 points clear of Greg Murphy with previous champion Mark Skaifefinishing third overall. He also won the Pole Position award and the inaugural Barry Sheene Medal, awarded to the best and fairest driver of the series as judged by a panel of media professionals.

Marcos' 2004 performance was equally dominant as he became the the man to beat -and the hunter became the hunted.
He won 5 of the 13 rounds, finished on the podium three times and top five twice -vital given the close nature of the V8 points system.

Winning one V8 Supercar Championship is tough. Winning two, back-to-back is a whole different challenge. Ambrose had to work a whole lot harder this year to achieve the same success -but he did it in style.

Marcos Ambrose has become the benchmark driver in V8 Supercar racing.

His ability to get amazing and consistent speed from his BA Falcon -and make so few driving mistakes in the process -means that many are looking for a hat trick in 2005. Three in a row is never easy but Marcos is at the top of his career -and a man on a mission.