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SYDNEY - Steve Ellery will make his V8 Supercar Championship comeback next week as preparation to partner fellow Queenslander Paul Morris in a Holden Commodore in this year's endurance races at Sandown and Bathurst.
Ellery will drive a Commodore for Morris' two-car team in the seventh round of the 2007 championship at Queensland Raceway near Ipswich from July 20-22.
The Holden that Ellery will race was driven in the opening six rounds by emerging New Zealander Fabian Coulthard.
Morris, who will also race a Commodore at Queensland Raceway, said the driver change was designed to assist Ellery prepare for when they team up in the Sandown 500 in Melbourne on September 16 and the Bathurst 1000 on October 7.
Last year Morris provided Ellery with two mid-season championship starts and they later finished eighth in the Sandown 500 and sixth at Bathurst.
Ellery has made 116 championship starts since 1994 and recorded three top-three podium finishes at Bathurst, but he has not raced fulltime in the series since the end of the 2005 season.
The 33-year-old has not raced a V8 Supercar since the 2006 Bathurst event, and he said driving in the three sprint races at Queensland Raceway would be valuable preparation for the endurance events.
"This is a good chance for me to work my way back into it because it's been almost nine months since I raced a V8 Supercar," said Ellery.
"It doesn't matter how much testing you do, nothing beats actually racing these cars."
Morris said it had not been decided whether Ellery or Coulthard would drive the team's second car in the eighth championship round at Oran Park in Sydney from August 16-19.
"We will see how Steve goes at Queensland and if he needs more time in the car he may do Oran Park as well, but if not then Fabian will be back behind the wheel," said Morris, who is 17th in the championship.
Victorian Rick Kelly leads the championship with 336 points, followed by Holden team-mate Garth Tander on 297, with Queensland-based Jamie Whincup the leading Ford driver in fourth position on 233 points.
The Queensland Raceway round comprises practice on July 20, with qualifying and the first race the following day, followed by the remaining two sprint events on July 22.
- AAP
