Albury Formula Ford driver Matthew Chahda will debut in Round 7 of the Auto One V8 Ute Racing Seriesprotected by Armor All as the youngest driver in the field at the age of 19 at Winton Raceway, 1618 November.
Chahda will have had no prior testing in the Ute before he hits the track for practice on the Friday, however will take with him his experience racing at Winton in Formula Ford and is looking forward to racing against drivers hes admired over the years like Cameron McConville and Nathan Pretty.
Im a bit nervous to go straight out in a field of experienced drivers but it should be good. I know who most of the guys are and since we put the deal together Ive been studying the driving through Youtube. Im excited to see where I can stand with some of these guys that have raced at top level, he said.
The teenager will be run by Corowa based team manager Wayne Williams for Williams Race-Tech, and will steer car #29, which was formerly driver by V8 Supercar Development driver Michael Hector on the Gold Coast.
The opportunity was there and you cant pass up an opportunity that good. Its great to run in a national series at a supercar event, he said.
The TAFE Motorsport student is the 15th Rookie that Williams Race Tech has looked after in the past 3 years and Team Manager Wayne Williams is looking forward to the task.
Matt is a confident up and comer and we are keen to see what he can do in a Ute, said Williams.
Chahdas father, Amin who was a champion in various different national racing categories including the Future Tourers and contested the 2003 Bathurst 24hour race, has been an inspiration in his career and believes his son will do well.
I think hell go really well. Its on the way to what he really wants to do, which is V8 Supercars. Hell be doing the Sydney round as well and then on the Monday he flies off to Las Vegas to compete in the Legends event. Hes got what it takes and hes quick in everything he drives. He even beat me in my Future Tourer the other day, said Amin.
Chahda is grateful for his fathers involvement in his motorsport career. The two even shared a drive earlier in the year in the Wakefield 300 in his fathers BA Falcon Future Tourer.
There is no way I would have been into it (motorsport) without his influence and no way Id be racing at this level without all the work hes put in for me, said Chahda
I cant wait to race at Sydney. Ive wanted to race at a street race ever since I raced Go Karts. Im excited to get there.
Chahda recently won the round at Eastern Creek in the NSW Formula Ford 1600 Championship and is the favourite to take out the Rookie of the year title after the final round of the state series this weekend.
He will join a long line of drivers who have come out of the region including current V8 Ute drivers, Nathan Pretty, Hayley Swanson and Tom Williamson.
The V8 Utes will have two practice sessions, qualifying and three races spread over the three days, with the aggregated points from qualifying, race 1, race 2 and race 3 deciding the overall round winner and with Winton the Penultimate Round drivers will be battling for as many points as they can muster.
