Ambrose: History means nothing

Marcos Ambrose was a dominant force at the Adelaide street race from 2003-05, winning five of the six 250km races staged at the grueling Clipsal 500 in those years.

However, the returning two-time champion is pressing the reset button for his first Championship point-scoring race since November 2005, and won't be thinking about his record-breaking efforts in the past.

"Certainly [I have] fond memories of Clipsal, we had a lot of good success there and largely in part the car was fantastic around there," Ambrose told v8supercars.com.au of his Stone Brothers Racing Falcon.

"It just really handled the bumps well and the change of direction well and it was just a pleasure to drive the Pirtek car around there, to be honest with you."

Ambrose sits equal second on the totem pole of Clipsal 500 race winners, even with Craig Lowndes, and trailing eight-time race winner Jamie Whincup by three victories.

And while the DJR Team Penske pilot isn't out to break any records, he'll be pushing as hard as he can to maximise what he has got.

"We're not in that position now - back then it was, you'd go there expecting to run at the very front and we did.

"This time around going back, it's a brand new team for us and my first real serious shot at a race in a V8 Supercar and history means nothing for our future. But certainly [it's] a track that I've raced really well at before."

Matter-of-fact, Ambrose doesn't believe any particular race win was more important to him than another. He didn't feel that a win at the 500 meant more than any other victory he has earned in a V8 Supercar.

"They're all great to take, but in my mind no win was better than others," he said.

"You just take them all as they come - if you can get them."

The only driver to break Ambrose's run between 2003 and '05 at the Clipsal 500 was Mark Skaife, who won the Sunday race in '03 when Ambrose's Falcon failed to finish.

While the two were fiery rivals on track, Skaife - now an expert FOX SPORTS commentator - was hugely complimentary of Ambrose's skills when it was announced he would return to the V8 Supercars Championship from NASCAR.

"It makes me laugh that some people are commenting, the game's moved on and not sure he'll be competitive. They're kidding themselves," Skaife told v8supercars.com.au heading into Sydney last year.

Though Ambrose wasn't happy with his showing in the ARMOR ALL SuperShootout - his first run on green Dunlop hard tyres at the sydney.com SuperTest - he did believe the team gathered plenty of valuable information about the FG X before his much-anticipated Clipsal debut.