Date set for Penske/Ambrose V8 Supercars confirmation

Official confirmation of Marcos Ambrose’s return to the V8 Supercars Championship with a Team Penske/Dick Johnson Racing partnership is now imminent.

Ambrose has announced at this weekend’s Chicago NASCAR event that he will return to Australia following the 2014 Sprint Cup season.

Team Penske is expected to reveal in the coming days that it will run Ambrose under a V8 Supercars Racing Entitlements Contract it has purchased from Dick Johnson Racing’s Steve Brabeck.

Ambrose’s car is set to be run out of DJR’s workshop alongside the Queensland team’s remaining entry.

Backing will likely come from Penske’s Australian business interests, which include Western Star Trucks and the recently launched Penske Truck Rentals.

The team and Ambrose are also known to remain on the hunt for local sponsors.

Whether the DJR-Penske alliance will continue to use Johnson’s Ford Falcon equipment is currently unclear.

While Ford has yet to show public interest in any such program, time is now limited to get another marque up and running for 2015.

Ambrose, who will return with his family to live in Tasmania, refused to be drawn on details of his future during the announcement of his exit from Richard Petty Motorsports.

Penske president Tim Cindric posted on Twitter that an update will come at 9pm EST Monday (11am Tuesday, Australian time).

Lots of inquires about @Team_Penske @v8supercars plans after RPM announced @MarcosAmbrose is not back to the 9 car.

— Tim Cindric (@TimCindric) September 13, 2014

Plan to have a teleconference on Monday at 9pm EST to give a @v8supercars update for the media.No further comments. Focused on the Chase now — Tim Cindric (@TimCindric) September 13, 2014

Cindric first confirmed his team’s interest in Ambrose for its mooted V8 Supercar program to Speedcafe.com in March.

The ongoing saga of whether Penske would make the plunge into V8 Supercars has made headlines since Cindric’s visit to the 2013 Sydney 500.