Ambrose to face fans in Tasmania

DJR Team Penske managing director Ryan Story says Marcos Ambrose remains heavily invested in V8 Supercars and will take the opportunity to speak to fans and media at this week's Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint.

Ambrose's sudden decision to step back and hand the keys to his #17 Falcon to Scott Pye has had the motorsport world in a spin since Tuesday. But while there's plenty of speculation, Story insists the sole reason for his step back is to ensure the team performs at its best, with a driver with more experience in the new gen car steering.

Story, who described Ambrose as a critical thinker, says suggestions the 38-year old feels like he's not good enough, 'over it' or heading back overseas are off the mark.

"That's all... just speculation and when there's an opportunity for us over the Tasmanian weekend, Marcos will correctly address some of those things," Story told v8supercars.com.au.

"The reality is there's really nothing more to it beyond Marcos thinking the best thing for the team right now is to put Scott back in the car... Marcos is heavily invested in this program.

"He was a critical part of getting it together - so whether he's lead driver for every event or not, the reality is he will still be an instrumental part of the team, both from a marketing point of view and working behind the scenes to get himself in a position to get back in the car."

One thing Story did allude to that may have affected the decision was the tight schedule Ambrose has been operating on, having flown to Australia to test his Falcon just days after completing his NASCAR commitments last year.

Since racing in Sydney, he has relocated his family, traveled between his home in Tasmania to Queensland where the team is based, gotten behind the wheel at three events including the sydney.com SuperTest and had a busy run of media commitments.

"When we first put this program together, let's not forget he was racing full-time in NASCAR Sprint Cup - obviously we gave him access to data and video as you'd expect, but opportunities to work through all that were limited," Story said.

"Now his position in reality is, despite testing he's done, he hasn't had the opportunity to get the feel for the car, drive the direction [and] be ready come the qualifying on Friday or Saturday,

"It's important not to discount the schedule this fellow's had and the opportunity to really do some of those things and give the time they require to do it properly."

While the technical alliance DJR Team Penske shares with Prodrive Racing (Australia) is crucial to succeeding as a single-car outfit, it isn't as simple as bolting the winning setup into the FG X and letting Ambrose run with it. However, theories the car is not good enough is not something Story agrees with.

"It comes down to different drivers wanting different things out of the car as well," he said.

"There are a few things different in our car - motor, of course ... we basically have the same bits as Prodrive run so there's no reason why we can't bolt in a Prodrive setup and do that from time to time. But again it's not necessarily the case that bolting a Winterbottom or a Mostert setup into a race car means we go as fast as those do, it's a matter of tailoring that setup to a driver and that's really what we want to do.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with the car.

"I think we could be doing a better job for sure... we also have the opportunity now to assess where we are as a team following Tasmania. We've got April where we're not racing, gives us a really good opportunity to regroup, critically assess where we are, critically assess what we need to do and keep moving forward."

While Story conceded it was an unusual decision for Ambrose to step away from driving the car, he described it as selfless.

"He's trying to put the interest of the team, the teams' supporters and the team's partners ahead of his own personal interests and I'd welcome any suggestion of any other driver prepared to do the same thing in the same circumstances."

Story has said there were no weighty expectations on Pye as he jumps into the #17 Wurth-coloured FG X this weekend.

While fans will remember Pye's accident at Symmons Plains in 2013, his first year in the Championship, last year the young gun recorded two top 10 finishes at the short circuit.

It will be his first time behind the wheel of an FG X.