Marcos Ambrose fully expects to be competitive in his return to V8 Supercars racing, once he finds his feet – and for the two-time Champion, taming Mount Panorama is high on the hit list.

While Ambrose dominated the category in 2003-4, winning the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 eluded him.

“Bathurst comes to mind,” he said immediately when asked what was left for him to achieve in V8 Supercars upon his return with Team Penske.

“I have yet to win the Bathurst 1000. I’ve had five shots at it and have done an average job every go. So that is certainly on the list.

“But the biggest thing for me returning to Australia is to compete at the highest level with the caliber of teams we’re forming here … a big part of bringing Team Penske to Australia with Dick Johnson Racing (is to) get them back in the winner’s circle and back to where they want to be, which is the Champion.”

Ambrose was integral to the Team Penske assault on V8 Supercars, with Roger Penske confident he was the right driver to represent him down under.

“I am certainly not going to stand up here today and tell you I’m going to come home and dominate the world – I’ve got a big challenge in front of me to get reintegrated into the series, readapt my driving style to suit these cars, to change my style to suit the rules of racing and code of conduct on the track,” Ambrose said.

“But I’ve got a lot … of strengths around me with Dick Johnson Racing, Team Penske, putting their might behind this project. It’s going to take it’s time – but we believe we’re in racing to win and that’s what our intent will be.”

While he is under no illusion it will happen overnight, Ambrose – who scored pole position in his first V8 Supercars race back in 2001 – said he was “not afraid of hard work”. Or of Jamie Whincup, who is leading the points in the way to his sixth Championship crown this season.

“He’s got two arms and legs like every other driver out there. He’s done an amazing job – and congratulations to him, he certainly has an approach to his racing that has worked, incredible talent behind the wheel, plus he’s got, clearly a lot of dedication to his craft and the professionalism to get it done year in year out.

“So you look at the series, he’s certainly up there at the top of the list of guys to compete against. And there’s more than just one. I look at some of the footage I’ve watched this year and there are some amazing drivers down there. Young drivers I have yet to race against and I’m looking forward to competing against some more.”

While some of the names have changed, many of those Ambrose raced back then continue in the Championship today. Names like Jamie Whincup, Mark Winterbottom and Lee Holdsworth were down the order at Ambrose’s final event in 2005 – but now they are right at the front of the pack.

“When I was there Jamie Whincup was racing, so to Craig Lowndes, so to Jason Bright – they’re all doing pretty well. So I don’t necessarily think it’s a matter of the talent level having increased, just the game has changed,” Ambrose said.

Bringing his young family back to Australia was one of the key considerations for Ambrose. He and the family will be based in Tasmania – where ‘the devil racer’ is from originally – though he still owns his Queensland home from when he was with Stone Brothers Racing.