Professional Rally Driver Chris Atkinson will join the field for the Grand Finale of the  2012 Auto One V8 Ute Racing Seriesprotected by Armor All, as the Auto One Wildcard at the Sydney Telstra 500, 30th November2nd December.

Atkinson is no stranger to street circuits, having raced in Townsville (2009) alongside V8 Supercar driver Steve Owen in the MINI Challenge series, at Mount Panorama in the Bathurst 12 hour driving for the Subaru team, (finishing 2nd overall) and the 24 hour race at Nurburgring.

Ive driven some tricky tracks, Ive heard the walls are pretty close in Sydney so its going to be different driving the Ute around a proper street circuit, said Atkinson.

Atkinson will be racing a Ute for the first time at the final round, and is hoping he can get some sort of testing in before he hits the track.

It would have been great to get some time in the Ute, Im going to be fresh out there and hopefully Ill pick it up really quickly.  Im trying to get in a Ute at Morris Motorsport before next weekend so Ill see how I go.

The Queenslander is looking forward to his time in the V8 Ute in Sydney and will need to adjust his driving style.

Im not sure if I should follow the other guys or find my own way around the circuit.  Ive never raced a rear wheel drive vehicle, it will be my first time and Ill need to be a bit more sensible with my right foot, he said with a grin.

Atkinson drove with Team MRF winning this years Asia Pacific Rally Championship and he finished off the year driving for Team Mini Portugal replacing, Armindo Arajo, for the last five rounds of this years World Rally Championship.

He started his professional rally career with Rally New Zealand in 2004, driving a Subaru Impreza WRX STI, and was signed to drive in the 2005 World Rally Championship with the Subaru World Rally Team, alongside 2003 World Champion Peter Solberg. They placed 12th for the Season with Atkinsons best result being a third in Japan and fourth on home-soil.

Atkinson claimed 10th overall in 2006 and 7th in 2007. He had his best result in 2008, placing 5th overall in the World Rally Championship and each year he competed in the Asian-Pacific Rally Championship was on the improve with a 5th in 2010, 2nd in 2011 and the win this year.

Atkinson will take to the track for the first time next Friday, 30th November for two practice sessions followed by Qualifying at 4:45pm.

See below full schedule V8 Ute Schedule for the Sydney Telstra 500:Friday, 30th November    Practice 1      9:40amFriday, 30th November    Practice 2      1:25pmFriday, 30th November    Qualifying      4:45pmSaturday, 1st December   Race 1        11:25amSunday, 2nd December    Race 2          8:45amSunday, 2nd December    Race 3          1:45pm

Race 1 & Race 3 will be televised LIVE on Network Seven (check local guides).