Microsoft Xbox has been revealed as the sponsor of Marcos Ambrose’s NRMA Sydney 500 wildcard appearance with Dick Johnson Racing.

The #66 Falcon’s livery was unveiled at Lakeside Raceway ahead of Ambrose’s first taste of the car at a ride day.

The sponsorship deal was put together by Mark Skaife, who was also instrumental in Xbox’s toe-in-the-water with V8 Supercars last year via a Triple Eight Bathurst wildcard.

The #10 Xbox Commodore driven by Mattias Ekstrom and Andy Priaulx sported Microsoft Xbox One/Forza 5 paintwork that promoted the soon-to-be-launched latest edition of the console and popular racing arcade game.

The Xbox investment saw the car finish in the top 10 after being engineered by the canny Ludo Lacroix.

“The whole package has come together perfectly,” said Ambrose, who only arrived back in Australia from the final NASCAR race in the US a mere 48 hours before the launch.

“I have been eager to get back in the V8 Supercar and I’m a gamer myself, so to head to Sydney with Xbox as our major partner is a fantastic outcome.

“Today is the first time the Xbox/DJR team have been together, so no doubt we will work really hard over the next week and arrive in Sydney ready to go.”

Team owner Dick Johnson was particularly pleased with the launch revealing it has been a busy few days at the team’s workshop leading up to the launch.

“Once we knew that Marcos could get back here to race and V8 Supercars confirmed the entry it was full steam ahead,” said Johnson

“We will run three cars at Homebush so we were focussed heavily on securing a great partner to launch Ambrose’s return to the series. To have such a high profile brand as Xbox on the car in Sydney is the icing on the cake.”