Michael Waltrip to race in Dubai 24 Hour sportscar race:

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Michael Waltrip to race in Dubai 24 Hour sportscar race: #55-Michael Waltrip plans to competes in the fifth-annual Dubai 24 Hour sportscar race at the ultra-modern Dubai Autodrome on January 14-16, 2010. "I love racing cars," said Waltrip. "The Daytona 500 is the ultimate race for a NASCAR driver to win. But how cool is it to go to Dubai on the other side of the globe and race a Ferrari? I never thought I'd have a chance to be part of such a unique experience." The Ferrari Waltrip refers to is a Ferrari F430 GT2 of the AF Corse team co-owned by Rob Kauffman who will be sharing driving duties with Waltrip, Marcos Ambrose, Rui Aguas and Niki Cadei. Kauffman is also a co-owner of Michael Waltrip Racing which fields NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entries for Waltrip, Martin Truex Jr. and David Reutimann. The Waltrip team has a technical alliance with Ambrose's team JTG Daugherty Racing. Waltrip and Kauffmann tested the Ferrari at the ACI Vallelunga circuit in Italy. Success at the test led the pair to review options for sports car races around the world before deciding to race in Dubai. The 3.5-mile track at the Dubai Autodrome is one of the most modern in the world; it is also one of the most challenging, as it has a combination of high-speed straights and technical corners. The race expects to start about 80 GT and touring cars. Track action starts on Thursday, Jan. 14, with practice, qualifying and night practice. The 24-hour race will start on Friday Jan. 15 at 2 pm.(MWR)(1-9-2010)

Great for Mikey!

Agreed.

Sounds pretty cool.

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Waltrip/Ambrose, not so lucky in the 24 Hours of Dubai: The French IMSA Performance MATMUT team has won the fifth anniversary edition of the Dunlop 24 Hours of Dubai. After 24 hours of racing at the 5.390 kilometres long Dubai Autodrome circuit, its driver pairing of Raymond Narac, Patrick Pilet and Marco Holzer had racked up a total of 608 laps with the team's Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Marco Holzer drove the car across the finish line. Second place was taken by the Japanese Petronas Syntium Team with the BMW Z4 Coupé, driven by Nobuteru Taniguchi, Masataka Yanigada, Farique Hairuman, Johannes Stuck and Hiroki Yoshida. The Al Faisal Racing team with Abdulaziz Al Faisal, Claudia Hürtgen, Marko Hartung and Khaled Al Faisal took their BMW Z4 Coupé to third place overall.(More info at 24hdubai.com)
AND NASCAR fans found themselves with a small window of opportunity to follow Michael Waltrip and Marcos Ambrose in their Dubai debut. Ambrose, a veteran road racer and two-time Australian V8 Supercars champion prior to his switch to Sprint Cup, had the AF Corse Ferrari F430 in the thick of the battle for the lead during the opening stint. But when teammate Waltrip took over, he soon encountered a two-car crash on the front straight and the NASCAR veteran was forced to take avoiding action, resulting in a race-ending introduction to the pit wall. Waltrip reported via his Twitter account that he was uninjured. "Well that's disappointing. 2 guys crashed on the straight [and] I got knocked into it. But I didn't hurt so that's good. Hi mom!"(SPEEDtv.com)(1-18-2010)

WTG Mikey!

Well, can't say I'm so surprised... he does crash, a lot!

Maybe that's why he's running a limited schedule in Cup this year... to get rid of all his junk cars. Kidding aside, I like Mikey.