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Watkins Glen pole winner, Marcos Ambrose, feels the pressure unlike any other of his NASCAR Sprint Cup rivals.
Even though Ambrose won the pole at a record speed of at 128.241 mph in a Ford it was only his first at Watkins Glen, first of the year and third in his Sprint Cup career.
The pressure exists because it's Ambrose's, the two-time V8 Supercar champion, last road race of the year. And he'd like to leave the upstate New York road circuit as winner for the third year in-a-row.
“It feels great to be here. These days don't come around that often,” Ambrose said. “It was a great lap. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't the cleanest lap I could have done, but it certainly carried a lot of momentum and it was enough to get the job done.
“These new Gen-6 race cars are a lot faster around here and the speeds are record speeds.”
The old record belongs to another former road racer, ex-Formula driver Juan Pablo Montoya from Colombia, who toured the old site of the USGP at 127.020 mph last year.
Toyota drivers took the next four spots. Clint Bowyer will start second, Martin Truex Jr. third, A.J. Allmendinger fourth and Kyle Busch fifth. Jamie McMurray had the fastest Chevrolet and will roll off sixth.
Ambrose's pressure was apparent on Friday when the usually affable Australian uncharacteristically took out his discontent on his Richard Petty Motorsport team.
“I did apologize to my team and that's because I did lose my cool a little bit yesterday. I was just frustrated with the second practice,” said Ambrose.
“It just didn't feel like we made enough progress and I was just worried for the race and for qualifying. I know we were fast during the practice, but I just didn't feel like it was feeling right for me.
“They did a good job to calm me down and not overreact to what I was saying and made some small adjustments for today and they've worked out really well, so we were just short on time yesterday.”
Looking ahead to Sunday's race Ambrose said “I love the area and I like the history of this place. This place feels like a European race track.
“I've raced a lot in Europe and it's just got that feel to it and the old books I've read and history of all the F1 guys coming here and stuff makes it a pretty special place for me. Some guys have home tracks.
“I obviously don't (...), so when I come to a track like this it actually does feel like the track that I grew up on. I like racing on these kind of circuits.”
Even though Ambrose won the pole at a record speed of at 128.241 mph in a Ford it was only his first at Watkins Glen, first of the year and third in his Sprint Cup career.
The pressure exists because it's Ambrose's, the two-time V8 Supercar champion, last road race of the year. And he'd like to leave the upstate New York road circuit as winner for the third year in-a-row.
“It feels great to be here. These days don't come around that often,” Ambrose said. “It was a great lap. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't the cleanest lap I could have done, but it certainly carried a lot of momentum and it was enough to get the job done.
 |
| Photo: MarcosAmbrose.com |
“These new Gen-6 race cars are a lot faster around here and the speeds are record speeds.”
The old record belongs to another former road racer, ex-Formula driver Juan Pablo Montoya from Colombia, who toured the old site of the USGP at 127.020 mph last year.
Toyota drivers took the next four spots. Clint Bowyer will start second, Martin Truex Jr. third, A.J. Allmendinger fourth and Kyle Busch fifth. Jamie McMurray had the fastest Chevrolet and will roll off sixth.
Ambrose's pressure was apparent on Friday when the usually affable Australian uncharacteristically took out his discontent on his Richard Petty Motorsport team.
“I did apologize to my team and that's because I did lose my cool a little bit yesterday. I was just frustrated with the second practice,” said Ambrose.
“It just didn't feel like we made enough progress and I was just worried for the race and for qualifying. I know we were fast during the practice, but I just didn't feel like it was feeling right for me.
“They did a good job to calm me down and not overreact to what I was saying and made some small adjustments for today and they've worked out really well, so we were just short on time yesterday.”
Looking ahead to Sunday's race Ambrose said “I love the area and I like the history of this place. This place feels like a European race track.
“I've raced a lot in Europe and it's just got that feel to it and the old books I've read and history of all the F1 guys coming here and stuff makes it a pretty special place for me. Some guys have home tracks.
“I obviously don't (...), so when I come to a track like this it actually does feel like the track that I grew up on. I like racing on these kind of circuits.”
 |
| Photo: MarcosAmbrose.com |