MOTORSPORT: Ambrose explains ... a little

Fernando Alonso is back in a McLaren-Honda, Valterri Bottas is back in Williams-Mercedes too, and Marcos Ambrose is at Symmons Plains in Tasmania ... but not in the DJR Team Penske No. 17 FG X Falcon.

Ambrose is facing the media and fans about his decision last week to step away from his V8 Supercar drive for the time being.

But it's still no clearer how the 2003-04 champion, who then spent almost a decade in America's NASCAR, thinks he is going to get better at racing this generation of V8 Supercar without spending the maximum time he can in the driver's seat.

Clearly Ambrose has had a crisis of confidence in his ability to adapt to this type of Supercar and to lead DJR Team Penske in the category, especially while the Prodrive Racing Australia FG Xs are flying.

He said he had been "learning on the fly, learning in race conditions – and then you throw in the fact that these cars are very difficult to pass, so qualifying really dominates the race results".

The feel Ambrose had been getting from the car was "not what it used to be".

While he insists his heart is still in driving in V8 Supercars there is no clear indication of when he will return to racing, other than perhaps for the endurance events in September-October.

"Time will tell us exactly what we need to do and it'll make it obvious, the next step," Ambrose said.

"Right now, Scott [Pye] is in the car for Symmons Plains, we'll have a really hard look at ourselves after Symmons Plains and see how our first three races have gone and we'll start making calls from there.

"Everything's on the table here. We're not hiding anything from anybody, we just don't know how it's going to play out."

Porsche announced as the WEC began an official two-day test at the Paul Ricard circuit in France that it will move up to the top, eight-megajoule hybrid sub-class after being in the 6MJ division in its comeback to the top league of sports car racing last year.

It has stuck with the same concept of energy-retrieval systems – front-axle kinetic and exhaust gas recuperation – and battery storage system.

Webber will drive with New Zealander Brendon Hartley and German veteran Timo Bernhard.

Toyota, the reigning WEC champion constructor, will continue in the 6MJ bracket. Its TS040 car has an upgraded supercapacitor energy-storage system after the Japanese manufacturer contemplated switching to batteries.

Toyota has vowed to remain in the WEC after it returns to the World Rally Championship in 2017 with its Yaris.

"The WEC offers Toyota the chance to showcase hybrid technology in a way that no other series does," said Rob Leupens, director of the German-based Toyota Motorsport GmbH.

Audi, which has dominated Le Mans this century, will move up from 2MJ to 4MJ in this year's WEC.

Nissan is planning to run its radical, front-engined GT-R LM NISMO in the 2MJ class but will not race before Le Mans, having opted to skip the Paul Ricard test and scrapped plans to run in the six-hour races at Silverstone and Spa before the French classic.

Will Power, who last year became the first Australian to win the Indy series title, starts his title defence on the St Petersburg street circuit in Florida where he won last year and in 2010.

Power has also had four pole positions at that circuit.

Team Penske has expanded from three to four Chevrolet-powered Dallara cars in the series this season, with Frenchman Simon Pagenaud joining the outfit that already had Power, Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya and Brazilian Helio Castroneves and finished first, second and fourth in last year's championship.

St Petersburg will see the debut of the new aero kits developed by Chevrolet and Honda for street, road and short oval courses, with other kits for superspeedways – especially the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home to the Indianapolis in late May – to be trialed soon.

Power says he is feeling more relaxed starting a season with a series title under his belt, after having been runner-up three times.

A big focus for him this year will be improving on his previous best fifth place in the Indy 500 in 2009 – his first year in America's biggest open-wheel event.

The ARC begins on the Busselton foreshore today, but most of the stages in WA's Forest Rally are on gravel roads around timber town Nannup.

The main interest in the event is the return of the Evans brothers – Eli in a Citroen DS3 R3 and the older Simon in a Honda Civic Type-R previously driven by Eli – and Molly Taylor's participation, after several years in Europe, at the wheel of the Renault Clio in which Scott Pedder won last year's ARC.

Daniel Ricciardo is demonstrating his leadership of Red Bull Racing now, calling on the team and engine supplier Renault to pull together after the public spats since the problems in Melbourne which restricted him to sixth place, a lap down on the dominant Mercedes cars of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

The Red Bull RB11 had huge driveability issues in Australia but Ricciardo said "it looks like some things are ironed out, so hopefully we can be closer".

"We should be in a better place," he said.

Fernando Alonso, who did not make it to Australia after his pre-season testing crash in Barcelona, and Valterri Bottas, who had a painful back after qualifying in Melbourne and could not take the start, have been given medical clearance for Sepang.

Alonso has insisted that the cause of his Barcelona crash was the steering, which he said "locked to the right" – contrary to McLaren team chief Ron Dennis claiming it was most likely the result of a gust of wind.

"Even a hurricane would not move the car," Alonso said.

Alonso said he did not lose consciousness or memory in the crash, but there were four hours later when medicated that he could not remember.

He dismissed the many fanciful stories that surfaced in the wake of the crash, but said the speculation about his health had not been helped by statements from McLaren and his management.

However, he maintained he had faith in McLaren, the team at which he had a tumultuous 2007 and which he has rejoined after five largely fruitless years at Ferrari.

He insisted McLaren was the team that could take him to a third world title, even though its Honda-engined MP4-30 car finished 11th and last, and two laps down, in Melbourne in the hands of another world champion, Jenson Button.

"It's a long-term project," Alonso said.

Bottas said the pain he had in his back had been "like a knife stabbing" him but that he had been training again since last weekend.

His Williams teammate, Felipe Massa, said the team's Mercedes-powered cars no long had the straight-line speed advantage they enjoyed last year but were now much better through corners.

Williams has named German Adrian Sutil, a veteran of 128 GPs with Spyker, Force India and Sauber, as its reserve driver, ahead in the pecking order of test driver Susie Wolff and development driver Alex Lynn.

Australian engineer Willem Toet is departing Swiss team Sauber after two stints as its head of aerodynamics. Toet also has worked in F1 at Toleman/Benetton, Ferrari and British American Racing.

His first stint at Sauber was from 2006 to 2009, when the team was owned by BMW, and he returned in 2011.

Watch the interview with Marcos Ambrose on www.V8Supercars.com.au