Ambrose, the daughter of two-time Supercars champion and NASCAR Cup Series race winner Marcos, will join TA2 competitor Brad Gartner at Winton Motor Raceway.
Motorsport Training Australia will field a team made up of Wodonga TAFE students who are aiming to graduate with a certificate in the field.
“Part of the course means that the TAFE students need to take a car to a racetrack and prepare and maintain that vehicle at a race meeting, as well as prepare the car prior,” explained team manager Steve McDonald.
“As teachers we’re making sure that they’re doing their assessments correctly. We teach them mainly the mechanical technician side of it, we also offer another certificate alongside the first year which is for mechanical engineering, which involves machining, welding, and CAD subjects, because Motorsport is not just about being a mechanic.”
Ambrose has existing links to Gartner after the famous motor racing family bought his Hyundai Excel.
However, the opportunity to race came through Benalla Auto Club general manager Stephen Whyte.
“I was racing at one of the last club rounds at Winton and I met Stephen at the scrutineering, he just approached my dad, and it went from there,” she said.
“I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the Wodonga TAFE, they’ve got an awesome little track out there, and they were kind enough to give me some laps.
“It went great, they let me have as much seat time as I wanted which was awesome. Seeing all the guys working on the car too, and just meeting everyone before the weekend.
“They seem very well prepared, I reckon they’re going to do a great job. They definitely know what they were talking about and understood what I was wanting out of the car.”
Last year, Gartner finished 10th overall and was fifth in class. Ambrose is optimistic the team can finish, though the objective is to provide the TAFE students a learning experience.
“The expectation for all is to finish all the laps, and their target is just to get the best result from the weekend, making the best setup changes, having a great driver changes and being able to have a flawless weekend without any faults,” she explained.
“I’ve got a pretty awesome teammate in Brad, who I’m really excited to get to drive to drive with.”
Ambrose will be on double duty at Winton too, racing her Excel.
“The Excel has just been such a great way to learn and improve the foundations of my skills without getting into something too fast too soon,” said Ambrose.
The Winton 300 takes place on Sunday, August 11 with coverage live on Blend Line TV.
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