The Bathurst driver hasn’t made a competitive start across any category since last year’s V8 Utes round at Mount Panorama and he’s itching to get a look at the Newcastle circuit – a new addition to the Supercars calendar.

It’s been a long process for Nightingale to get a spot in the grand finale but he says it’s been a worthwhile experience.

“It’s a fantastic feeling,” he said.

“We came up with the idea of potentially racing in the last round of the V8 Utes a while ago.

“We’ve been getting the funding for the seat together ourselves … and we’ll be racing under our own banner of Nightingale Motorsport.

“It was great getting laps in John Bowe’s car. The brakes are bigger and the suspension is different from the utes but it’s all valuable driving time for me.

In a search for a sponsor Nightingale found something he’ll be incredibly proud to fly the flag for.

“We approached The Virtual Pub on Facebook, who are part of the Black Dog Institute. They run a group for men who suffer from depression, like I have, and it gives them a place to talk about it with others,” he said.

“With them coming on board we’re hoping to get more people to donate to a worthwhile cause.

“We’ve also had a lot of Newcastle sponsors. That’s been a massive help for us.

“There’s only 22 entries which are accepted and we got there thanks to that Newcastle support. With all their help we’ll really be like the local entry in the race.”

Despite not having any racing under the belt this year Nightingale has kept himself busy working in driver training programs across the country.

On top of that Nightingale was able to take John Bowe’s former FG Falcon V8 Supercar for a spin around Mount Panorama following the recent Challenge Bathurst event.

However, Nightingale won’t get any time in the ute prior to practice on Friday.

“I haven’t tested the ute at all but everyone will be in the same boat up at Newcastle since no-one’s raced on the track before,” Nightingale said.

“But there’s a lot of guys there who will be racing for the championship and I don’t want to get myself caught up in that battle.

“We want to bring the ute back without a scratch and at the same time raise awareness for a really good cause.”

Nightingale enjoyed a great round in last year’s crack at Mount Panorama, recording a pair of ninth place results on his home track.

V8 Utes’ practice at Newcastle takes place on Friday 10.15am with qualifying at 8.45am on Saturday.