Marcos Ambrose to sit out Townsville practice

Townsville’s Reid Park street circuit appears set to remain the only current championship venue where Marcos Ambrose has not driven a V8 Supercar.

Although entered as a co-driver for practice in DJR Team Penske’s Ford, the team has ruled the former two-time champion as a ‘very, very slim’ chance to turn laps.

Ambrose returned to the wheel on the Friday of the recent Hidden Valley meeting, admitting afterwards that he’s still far from comfortable in the car ahead of his race return at Sandown.

Unlike the Super Sprint format seen at the bulk of this year’s events, including Hidden Valley, Townsville’s Super Street schedule does not allow for an extra set of pre-marked tyres for co-drivers.

Friday will also feature three 30 minute sessions instead of the twin 60 minute hit-outs seen at Super Sprints, further tightening practice plans for teams eager to undertake set-up work with their primary driver aboard.

Extra 30 minute sessions specifically for non-primary drivers have recently been added to the upcoming Sydney and Ipswich events, ensuring Ambrose will still get plenty of laps after sitting out Townsville.

“The Townsville format isn’t conducive to any team running a co-driver,” DJR Team Penske managing director Ryan Story told Speedcafe.com.

“You only get about three runs of three laps each in those sessions and obviously our primary focus will be on Scott setting the car up for the weekend.

“If the opportunity somehow presents itself where we can throw Marcos in for a couple of laps we will, but the likelihood of him running is very, very slim.”

For the first time this season DJRTP has elected not to rotate chassis between events, with the #17 Ford the same car that was campaigned by the team in Darwin.

Story says that the rotation plan has been in place this year due to the team’s rolling sponsorship model, which this weekend sees a continuation of the Shell backing.

The team is meanwhile optimistic of building on strong recent form that has netted top 10 finishes in three of the last four races.

“Townsville is really going to be another test for the FG X package because if it works well there it’s pretty much going to be destined to work well everywhere,” said Story.

“Scotty does very well at street circuits and we’re coming up to some circuits where last year he started to make a real mark.

“But our expectations are no different to what they were in Darwin and that is to qualifying strongly and, hopefully, come away with a pair of top 10 finishes.

“As Tim Cindric has made clear in recent weeks, for us right now it’s about making a positive progression and building on what we’ve done.”