2015 Bathurst 1000 competitor Aaren Russell will steer the Matt Stone Racing Ford FG V8 Ute at this weekend’s (23rd – 25th October) penultimate Round of the 2015 East Coast Bullbars Australian V8 Ute Racing Series at the Castrol Gold Coast 600.

 The regular Dunlop Development Series driver recently raced at the Bathurst 1000 as a Wildcard Entry, placing 17th in the race with his brother Drew and finishing on the lead lap.

“This will be my first time racing at the Gold Coast and in a V8 Ute, so I’m definitely getting thrown in the deep end but I have some pretty good teammates in George (Miedecke) and Ryal (Harris) to feed off,” said Russell.

 Russell is a regular in the Dunlop V8 Supercar Development Series, currently placed 13th and after his drive in the Bathurst 1000 is looking for more opportunities to step up into V8 Supercars, so familiarising himself with the Surfers Paradise circuit is a good option.

“We were looking at getting some experience on the Gold Coast, which would give us that extra edge when trying to get into the Enduro’s here next year,” explained Russell.

 The Newcastle based driver is looking forward to racing with Gold Coast Team Matt Stone Racing this weekend.

“I’ve known Matt for some time now, I raced a Stone Brothers (Matt’s father’s team) Ford FG V8supercar in the Dunlop Series in 2013, we got talking at Bathurst about the wildcard Ute and I’m really looking forward to working with him again. If it wasn’t for the support of Plus Fitness and Go Karts Go, we wouldn’t be here, and it just shows what awesome and amazing sponsors they are, I can’t thank them enough,” explained Russell.

 Russell will take to the Gold Coast track in a V8 Ute for the first time on Friday morning for the one and only practice session and then straight into qualifying and Race 1 all in the same day.

 See below full V8 Ute Schedule for the Gold Coast 600 weekend: Friday, 23rd October        Practice 1    8:25am Friday, 23rd October        Qualifying    2pm Friday, 23rd October        Race 1         4:40pm Saturday, 24th October    Race 2       10:30am Sunday, 25th October      Race 3        10:05am