Two-time V8 Ute Champion, Grant Johnson, will join Matt Stone Racing in the All Purpose Pest Racing Wildcard Ute at Round 2 of the 2015 East Coast Bullbars Australian V8 Ute Racing Series at Barbagallo Raceway, 1st May – 3rd May.Johnson will join fellow two-time V8 Ute Racing Champion Ryal Harris and George Miedecke in the Matt Stone Racing camp and will steer Harris’ former Ford. Harris will now driver Peter Burnitt’s Ford with backing from Holiday for Life.This will be the fourth time that Johnson has raced a Ford, (he raced Danny Buzadzic’s at Clipsal, Townsville and Darwin last year). The All Purpose Pest Wildcard Ford may see a variety of drivers fill the seat throughout the year; however Johnson is excited to be the first to take the reins. Until Ryal Harris recent race wins at the Clipsal 500, (now 33 race wins) Johnson was the most successful V8 Ute driver of all time (31 race wins).“I’m looking forward to Perth, we should have a lot of local backing as usual and it’s a really good car, it’s won a few races and rounds with Ryal driving and hopefully I can do it justice. My goal is to go out and win and to have a good weekend and with any luck I’ll walk away with the most race wins again,” said Johnson.Johnson was the Series Driving Standards Advisor at the event last year and he would much prefer to be behind the wheel.“Anytime you’re behind the car is a lot better than watching. I enjoyed the DSA role and I know what you can and can’t do now,” he said with a grin.There will be three former V8 Ute Champions competing against each other this weekend Kris Walton will also join Johnson and Harris and will also try and defend his Perth title, which he took out on the 20th anniversary of his long-time supporters RENTCO last year.“I’m definitely looking to back-up last year’s performance. It’s Rentco’s home-round and no doubt we will have lots of support like we did last year but I’m under no illusion it will be easy, with Sieders (Dave) and McNally (Rhys) in the Holden’s I’m sure they will go strong. Also having Grant (Johnson) back and in a Ford he knows the place like the back of his hand, so I’ll have plenty of people to watch out for,” explained Walton.Harris is yet to secure a podium win at this event, he claimed the ARMOR ALL Pole Award last year but has come second three times, and would love to change that especially after his recent battle with Walton at the Clipsal 500 and missing the podium by a countback. The two are now tied in the ARMOR ALL Drivers’ Standings and will carry an extra 40kg each with the new success ballast rule coming into this round.“I think it will affect us mildly (the success ballast) but we generally run the car heavy, Kris and I have a fair bit of pace on everyone else this year so I’m not too worried, if it was one over the other then I might be but I’m really just racing Kris and George (Miedecke) at the moment, the car feels fast and hopefully I’ll take the Pole Award again,” said Harris.Teammate George Miedecke will also carry extra weight (20kg) as he is currently running third in the Championship.Local drivers, Rhys McNally and Adam Marjoram will also be back to try and take a podium win, McNally claimed third in 2013 and Marjoram debuted in Perth in 2012 in the Auto One Wildcard Ute and put in his best result last round with fifth overall.  They will be joined by another local driver Rick Gill, who will return to the Series for the first time since Perth last year.All Races and sessions including Practice and Qualifying will be televised Live on Fox Sports be sure to check your local guide.See below full race schedule for the weekend:Friday, 1st May          Practice 1      9:00amFriday,1st May           Practice 2     11:40amFriday, 1st May          Qualifying     2:40pmSaturday, 2nd May    Race 1          10:05amSaturday, 2nd May    Race 2          4:05pmSunday, 3rd May       Race 3          11:25am