Ambrose: 'I doubted I could lead the team'

Two-time champ and former NASCAR driver Marcos Ambrose admitted he questioned his ability to perform and lead DJR Team Penske, after returning to V8 Supercars for 2015.

The 38-year old further explained his decision to step down from driving the #17 Ford Falcon FG X for the Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint, and revealed that while his heart was still in the right place, he did have doubts about his ability to get the job done.

"There's no doubt that I love racing, I love racing cars and I love being in Australia. Racing V8 Supercars was a ton of fun," Ambrose said.

"What wasn't fun was having this doubt that I could lead the team forward like I was expected to. And that was the challenge for me personally and that's been the big issue."

Young gun Scott Pye will take the reins this weekend, and while Ambrose has committed to driving in the Pirtek Enduro Cup later this year, he didn't predict a time he'd return to the drivers' seat permanently.

One of the biggest issues has been his ability to adjust to the car.

"Even if I was running 20th - but I could feel the car like I need to, to move this team forward, we wouldn't be having the conversation. But it's been tricky for me to find that...

"I'm 38 now, I've raced all around the world and I've done a lot of races. There comes a time when you come back and you've got to relearn again - it's like, well, can I relearn this? Can I do this again?

"That's certainly, that's not a factor in the decision, but certainly you'd be a fool if you didn't consider where you're at and what you're all about and whether you can step up and take it to them."

The once dominant player in V8 Supercars was a key part of Roger Penske committing to entering the Australian Championship, and after forming a strong relationship with the motorsport heavyweight, Ambrose is determined not to let him down.

"It's not a phone call you want to make, it wasn't an easy phone call to make," he said of telling 'The Captain' he'd be stepping back.

"But when I outlined how I felt and what I thought was going to be the best, he accepted."

While Ambrose knew the new generation V8 Supercar would be different from what he was used to, the 38-year old has found it difficult to get into the groove.

"I'm learning on the fly, I'm learning in race conditions - and then you throw in the fact that these cars are very difficult to pass, so qualifying really dominates the race results. The feel I'm getting from the car is not what it used to be."

Where to from here? The team will assess after this weekend's races, with a month-long break before the next event in Perth.

"Time will tell us exactly what we need to do and it'll make it obvious, the next step," he said.

"Right now, Scott's in the car for Symmons Plains, we'll have a really hard look at ourselves after Symmons Plains and see how our first three races have gone and we'll start making calls from there.

"So everything's on the table here. We're not hiding anything from anybody, we just don't know how it's going to play out."