Marcos Ambrose, the Australian-based NASCAR driver, who finished in the top-20 in his first full year in Sprint Cup racing will co-drive the he #148 Ferrari F430 GT2 of the AF Corse team, partnered by Rob Kaufman, Michael Waltrip, Rui Aguas and Niki Cadei in the 24 Hours of Dubai, at the Dubai Autodrome, during the weekend of January 14-16, 2010.
“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.”
Although Ambrose was the 2003-4 V8 Supercar champion in Australia and his native Tasmania driving a Ferrari sports car is a first for him.
He explained, “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.”
“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.”
Although Ambrose was the 2003-4 V8 Supercar champion in Australia and his native Tasmania driving a Ferrari sports car is a first for him.
He explained, “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.”