Brundle Teams Up with Blundell for 2011 Daytona 24-Hour Race

Martin Brundle will leave the commentator desk at the BBC during the month of January – not that the British broadcaster has any F1 activity during that time of year – and return to racing. After making some one-off appearances in the Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup and the Lamborghini Super Trofeo in recent years, the former McLaren driver will take part in next year's Daytona 24-Hour race.

The Rolex 24 at Daytona will be held between January 29-30 and will account for the first major motor racing event of the year in the United States. And these endurance races seem to work just fine for Brundle, since his last international appearance in motorsports happened also during a 24-hour race, at Le Mans (2001).

According to a report from British magazine Autosport, Brundle will rejoin former F1 teammate Mark Blundell for the Grand-Am opener in January, both driving a Michael Shank Racing Riley-Ford MkXX Daytona Prototype under the banner of Zak Brown's United Autosports team.

“Zak asked me if I was interested; it took me about five minutes to say yes,” admitted Brundle in an exclusive interview with the aforementioned publication. “Having cleared myself of some of my other responsibilities, I want to go back and race a bit more seriously.”

Additionally, the F1 pundit also confirmed that he's fancying some further endurance outings in the 2011 season. “I'd be surprised if I don't end up doing one or two more sports car races next year,” added the 51-year old Brit.

Brundle is no stranger from Daytona action, as he used to win the event back in 1988, at the wheel of a Jaguar, the same season when he became world sportscar champion. That was his last season before switching to F1 racing, for Brabham.