Australian Marcos Ambrose has made an encouraging start to the weekend aboard his Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards F-150 in practice for the New Hampshire 200 in Loudon, New Hampshire, USA today. Ambrose showed strong form in the three practice sessions contested at the New Hampshire International Speedway, setting a time inside the top 20 during the two practice sessions. He also topped the time sheets in the designated rookie practice. The dual V8 Supercar champion was 18th fastest and the top rookie in opening practice at the one-mile Loudon venue, followed up with 15th fastest in final practice.

The strong start to proceedings is a positive sign for tomorrow's race for Ambrose, who with just 14 NASCAR starts to his name, has already proved to be a force on the faster speedways.

Jack Sprague set topped final practice today ahead of Mike Skinner and defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion Ted Musgrave. Ambrose will be back in action tomorrow for qualifying, followed by the 200-lap race.

Marcos Ambrose - Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards Ford F-150
"Today was a good, solid day to start the weekend," said Ambrose. "We had the Aussie Vineyards F-150 truck going well out there, so now we can work on fine tuning it for tomorrow and hopefully things will go our way and we can collect a solid finish. We've had a great season on the one and a half-mile, one and a third mile banked race tracks, hopefully this trend can continue on a one-mile track this weekend."

"I think New Hampshire is going to be good for me because it's a bigger race track and it's probably more what I'm used to in the sense that you traditionally pass people by drafting by them and then passing them under braking on the way into the corner, so that I'm looking forward to."

"I can't say enough about this team and how hard they work for me. So far it's looking good for a strong qualifying and race performance tomorrow."

Craig Gore - Team Australia
"Once again Marcos has proved that he is one of the top rookies in the championship," said Gore. "When you can run on the pace right from the start of the weekend it is a very positive sign. Marcos and the Aussie Vineyards crew should be happy with today's efforts.

"It's a solid start to what we all hope will be another strong performance from Marcos and the Team Australia F-150."