Marcos Ambrose receives Sir Jack Brabham Award; to compete in Dubai sports car race

By SceneDaily Staff

Monday, December 07, 2009

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JTG Daugherty Racing's Marcos Ambrose has been busy this offseason, announcing plans to compete in the Dubai 24-hour sports car race and being honored with the Sir Jack Brabham Award by the Confederation of Australia Motor Sport, the governing body of motorsports in Australia.

The Australia native was presented the award while at the final race of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series race in Sydney this weekend.

The award honors the achievements of Sir Jack Brabham, an Australian engineer and driver who rose to the pinnacle of world motorsport as a three-time Formula One world champion.

The award recognizes outstanding achievement and success by an Australian motorsport competitor at the international level. The recipient must demonstrate outstanding talent, determination and a significant level of success in international competition.

“The award is unexpected, and I feel privileged to be given the nod for it,” Ambrose said in a news release. "Sir Jack is obviously a hero of mine, as all the Brabhams are to be honest. It’s a real racing dynasty. So I take that honor with pride. Jack and the whole Brabham family are pioneers in Australian racing, and it's a privilege to be given the honour of this award, and I hold it in high regard, and I am very thankful that I've been given the nod for it.”

Ambrose moved to the United States in 2006, leaving behind a successful five-year career in V8 Supercars that yielded two championships. He completed his first full season of NASCAR Sprint Cup this year, finishing 18th in the standings.

Now, he plans to compete in the Dubai 24-hour sports car race at the Dubai Autodrome on Jan. 14-16. Ambrose will drive the No. 148 Ferrari F430 GT2 of the AF Corse team, which is a partnership of Michael Waltrip Racing owners Rob Kauffman and Michael Waltrip as well as Rui Aguas and Niki Cadei. Ambrose's Cup team is run out of the MWR shop through a technical alliance.

Ambrose has previous experience in GT and sports car 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.

Ambrose also competed in the GT class at the 2005 Daytona 24-hour race in a Porsche GT3 Cup car with fellow Australians Paul Morris, Craig Baird and John Teulen.

“It is a bit out of left field,” Ambrose said in a news release. "Rob Kauffman, 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 Kauffman to have a good time and meet some new people and race a cool car."