Ambrose content to keep lid on V8 Supercar hopes

Marcos Ambrose driving the #1 PIRTEK Ford Falcon during the 2005 Clipsal 500. Photo / NZH Archive

V8 Supercars fans itching for a shake-up to the championship race won't like hearing it but Marcos Ambrose says keeping expectations low on his return to Australia is the wisest choice.

Ambrose will make his competitive return as a full-time V8 Supercars driver at next weekend's season-opening Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.

Given his status as a two-time V8s champion, there's a hope among fans that Ambrose will be the man to break Jamie Whincup's dominance of the category in the past seven years.

Ambrose won the annual Adelaide street circuit event in 2004 and 2005, the latter coming in his final year as a V8 Supercars driver before heading to the United States to pursue his NASCAR dream.

But the 38-year-old Tasmanian says he's still coming to grips with his Dick Johnson Racing/Team Penske Ford and is playing down any talk of an instant impact upon his return.

"It's certainly unusual for me to be doing that but I think it's the right approach," he said.

"You have to appreciate that I've been away from the sport for a long time. The sport's moved on since I was here last and what worked for me then doesn't work for me now.

"We're a team that's building what DJR had and, to be fair, that didn't win a race in 2014.

"We're going to build it with people who haven't really had an experience of V8 Supercars into a winning combination, and we will, but it's going to take time. People need to appreciate that success doesn't happen overnight.

"You've got to walk before you can run."

Ambrose will race in a Shell-sponsored No.17 Falcon for the Clipsal 500, with the oil giant holding a long-running partnership with both Dick Johnson and the team's US-based backer Roger Penske.

Ambrose says given time the Gold Coast-based team will introduce all the procedures and processes used by Penske's hugely successful NASCAR and IndyCar operations to Australian motorsport.

"The racing team is a snapshot of how the Penske organisation operate," he said.

"Certainly we're going places that other teams probably haven't been."Triple Eight's an incredible team. HRT (Holden Racing Team) also. FPR (Ford Performance Racing). They're all good race teams but we are representing Roger Penske's companies and bringing their guests to the track so it's going to be a great level to watch it grow into the Penske standard."

The V8 Supercars seasons begins in Adelaide with the Clipsal 500 from February 27.