DOUBLE series champion Marcos Ambrose has told the On the Grid Podcast of his hopes for his return to Supercars competition – if only virtually – in the fourth round of the BP Supercars All Stars eSeries tonight.

The Tasmanian will join the Supercars field as a wildcard entry across the four races on Wednesday night – two each at Watkins Glen and the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal – racing a Pirtek-backed Ford Mustang.

Ambrose joined the OTG crew to discuss his eSeries cameo, telling Tony Schibeci and Dale Rodgers that it was a deal quickly pieced together by a long-term backer.

“It half feels like I am coming out of retirement for a computer game!” Ambrose said.

“This has all come at short notice. I think we’ve all got a bit of the Covid crazy’s going on and Steve Dutton from Pirtek gave me a call and said: ‘Hey, we’re 40 years in business, how about we do one of those online races together,’ I said ‘oh that sounds really good.. and that was about four days ago!’

“I’ve been a hobby enthusiast in the iRacing and online racing hardware side of things. I have built a few rigs over the years, different combinations of motion combined with the iRacing platform and the software that goes with that.

“We got the green light on Friday and I had to clean a room out, build a sim rig in time for it and had a practice today and I am ready to go.”

Ambrose enjoyed stunning results at both North American circuits during his time in NASCAR, including a pair of famous victories at the upstate New York circuit in the outright Cup series.  

While admitting that his circuit knowledge came flowing back during testing for his eSeries debut, Ambrose was firm in suggesting he is very much the underdog.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a target on my back! They’ve certainly brought back a lot of memories, these two racetracks that we’re going to… but I would not say I’m going to carry the form across! I had a practice with the guys online and they’ve clearly done a lot of practice these guys, they’re really fast!

“I don’t think I’m going to go out there and win these races, but it will be great to be part of it… It’s like riding a bike, when you’ve raced any track you can go back and you pretty much know what you have to do straight away.”

Another bumper edition of On the Grid also includes a chat with Walkinshaw Andretti United drivers Chaz Mostert and Bryce Fullwood, plus analysis of the current calendar permutations being touted for global motorsports return.

Listen to the podcast in the player below, by visiting mypodcasthouse.com, Apple Podcasts or Spotify – or listen on the Radio Show Limited network of channels on RS1, at 9pm UK time on Thursday night via radiolemans.com.