For a few laps “proud Novocastrian” Aaren Russell led the inaugural Newcastle Supercars and that feeling has only fuelled the desire to return and win on his hometown track one day.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Blackhalls Park 26-year-old may have simply been the last driver to pull into pit lane, but regardless there was a No.1 next to his name about a third of the way through Sunday’s race.
“My team actually radioed me and said ‘we are no P1’ and I was like wow,” Russell said post-race in pit lane along the foreshore.
“If I don’t come back next year I can tell my kids and all my brother’s kids and everyone in my family that I led however many laps of the first ever Newcastle 500.”
But there is still a sense of wanting more for Russell, who eventually finished 19th in race two after failing to finish Saturday’s opener around the new 2.6-kilometre street circuit, and hinted at some potential car developments.
“I really hope I get to come back and do this again next year and again after that,” he said.
“Hopefully we’re in a really good car next year if we can make something happen.”
When told about three-day crowd numbers almost reaching 200,000, Russell was taken aback and compared it to Supercars events at Bathurst and Gold Coast while thanking Hunter motorsport enthusiasts for turning out to Newcastle’s east in near-perfect conditions.
“What an unbelievable weekend,” he said.
“I’m so proud of Newcastle and once again on the way to the grid I took it slow, opened the door and waved to everyone.
“The amount of people who were just absolutely going berserk was just insane. I really can not thank everyone enough because the support has been massive.
“I’ve got a lot of memories this weekend that I’ll remember for the rest of my life and I’ll go to bed tonight a very proud Novocastrian.”
Russell took a “dip” in the pond post-race to cool off following a gruelling afternoon, including difficult closing stages of the 95 laps.
“I drove the arse out of that thing [car] today,” he said.
“I’m absolutely spent now. The cool suit wasn’t really working to its optimal and was only about 12 or 13 degrees rather than two. The helmet fan was useless and I ran out of drink midway.
“I was so hot in that car, but I was not going to let everyone down and I was finishing no matter what.
“It was a shame about the end of the race there, something was starting to fail inside the car. I was just trying to nurse it home and it was the longest seven laps of my life.”
Best in Sunday’s five support classes were Upper Hunter product Jeremy Gray in the V8 Utes (2nd race two) and Kilaben Bay’s Cameron Mason in the Touring Car Masters (6th race one).
