Marcos Ambrose to race in Dubai 24 Hours

AMBROSE TO RACE AT THE DUBAI 24 HOUR SPORTSCAR RACE IN JANUARY

Marcos Ambrose will race in the Dubai 24 Hour sportscar race at the Dubai Autodrome on January 14-16 early next year.

Ambrose will drive the #148 Ferrari F430 GT2 of the AF Corse team, partnered by Rob Kaufman, Michael Waltrip, Rui Aguas and Niki Cadei.

AF Corse team owner Kaufman is also a co-owner of Michael Waltrip Racing, with which Ambrose's team JTG Daugherty Racing has a close technical alliance.

Waltrip, also co-owner of Michael Waltrip Racing, is a two-time Daytona 500 champion and ran as Ambrose's 'stable-mate' in the Sprint Cup Series this season.

Ambrose has previous experience in GT and sportscar racing, entering the Grand-Am Rolex Sportscar Series event at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada earlier this year with fellow Sprint Cup Series driver Carl Edwards.

The Australian driver competed in the GT class at the 2005 Daytona 24 Hour in a Porsche GT3 Cup car with fellow Australians Paul Morris, Craig Baird and John Teulen.

WHAT MARCOS HAD TO SAY ...

"It is a bit out of left field," said Ambrose.

"Rob Kaufman, who is a part owner of Michael Waltrip Racing, has his own race team in Europe that he 'plays with' and because JTG Daugherty Racing has an association and close alliance with MWR I thought it would be great fun to go across and help Rob out.

"It will help me out too because it gets me back behind the wheel of a race car again before the season starts. I've never been to Dubai and I've never raced a 24-hour race over in the Middle East, so it's a racing first for me.

"It's not too serious. We're just going to go up there and be good support for them. Their lead driver is Rui Aguas and he'll qualify the car and do all the things he wants to do to it. He'll lead the race for us and all those things so there is no pressure on, I'm just going over there with Michael Waltrip and Rob Kaufmann to have a good time and meet some new people and race a cool car.

"We'll be in a Ferrari F430. I've never raced a Ferrari but I've driven plenty. I've never raced one and I guess if you crash them they get more expensive to fix. So I'll try not to crash it.

"A 24 Hour race is a different mind-set. It's not about running the car at ten-tenths. It's about running the car at seven-tenths all day and looking after the gearbox, the brakes and the engine. I'm looking forward to it and it should be fun."

-credit: bammedia