Marcos Ambrose breaks silence over V8 Supercar backdown

Alice Springs was looking pretty good to Marcos Ambrose as he turned his back on the chaos and carnage of a failed attack on the Australian Grand Prix weekend in Melbourne.

The two-time V8 Supercars champion had been humbled through four starts on the same course where he had once starred as a youngster in his first touring car meeting and it was too much. Ambrose had decided he was not getting the job done and should step out of the driving seat to try to get the DJR-Team Penske program back on track. So, after calling the big boss, American billionaire Roger Penske, Ambrose jumped in a car to go walkabout.

"That was really just trying to lose a couple of days to let things calm down. But I got a couple of hours into the trip and realised that I wanted to get home and see the kids," Ambrose told News Corp Australia.

I wasn't going to be able to do what was expected of me

He says he has not quit driving but, after arriving home from a decade of NASCAR oval racing in the USA with high hopes and a high-profile program, he knew he had to step out from behind the wheel.

"It became pretty obvious to me that I wasn't going to be able to do what was expected of me in that role right now. Once it came, it was a pretty solid thought. It was pretty clear.

"Whenever you're making a decision, especially one like this, they are serious and somewhat humbling. You have to be sure you're ready to pull the trigger. It's taken a lot of weight off my shoulders."

There was shock at DJR-Team Penske when Ambrose announced his decision, even though his crew knew he was struggling.

"I could sense he was frustrated, but we could also see him getting better. The key message from us is that he is still a hell of a driver," DJR-Team Penske team principal Ryan Story said.

"I understand his rationale and his reasoning. But, certainly, it took us all by surprise."

Trying to improve the car...was harder than I had expected

So, what went wrong? How did a two-time champion fall towards the back end of the V8 Supercars field? And why not give it longer than just a handful of starts?

"It was a combination of a lot of factors. It became obvious to me that returning to be the lead driver in this one-car team, and trying to improve the car - ultimately by race results and also by engineering the car - was harder than I had expected.

"So the duty on my shoulders, as a relative rookie in a series that has moved on, was to improve the race car and the results. When it became obvious I couldn't do that...it became an untenable position on me personally."

Ambrose has copped plenty of flak since stepping down, even though he is handing a golden opportunity to his young understudy Scott Pye. There were rumours of total retirement, a retreat back to NASCAR oval track racing in the USA, and even a mental breakdown.

But Ambrose is tough and professional, and he's tackling things head-on. For now at least, he and Pye are switching roles. The youngster becomes the lead driver and the veteran becomes the long-distance co-driver. There is a plan for a two-car operation in 2016, although Ambrose is not looking that far into the future.