Before the opening round of the WRC season at Rally Monte Carlo, Rovanperä will take to the track. The Finnish star is set to compete in the Dubai 24 Hours endurance race from 10–12 January.
The race has attracted a total of 65 entries, with 31 GT3 cars. Rovanperä will compete in a Porsche 911 GT3 R fielded by Proton Competition, sharing the car with Finnish drivers Jukka Honkavuori and Jani Käkelä, as well as Joel Monegro and Bashar Mardini.
Rovanperä will face tough competition, including skilled circuit racers. The entry list features three former Formula 1 drivers and champions from various racing series.
Former F1 drivers Vitaly Petrov and Sergey Sirotkin from Russia will compete in Dubai with SMP Racing, driving a Mercedes. Petrov raced in Formula 1 from 2010–2012 and secured a podium finish at the opening race of the 2011 season with Renault. Sirotkin drove for Williams in 2018, achieving a single top-ten finish.
Another former F1 driver, Nikita Mazepin, also from Russia, will race in the GTX class. Mazepin competed for the Haas F1 team in 2021 but did not achieve notable success.
Among the favourites for the Dubai 24 Hours is the Pure Rxcing quartet, featuring Alex Malykhin, who won the LMGT3 championship in the FIA World Endurance Championship last season. His teammate is Thomas Preining, the 2023 DTM champion. The team also includes Alexey Nesov and Harry King.
The entry list also includes Jake Hill, last season’s champion in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). Hill will drive an Era Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3. Additionally, two-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Earl Bamber will compete in an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 fielded by his own team.
After the Dubai 24 Hours, Rovanperä will shift his focus to the WRC season, which begins with the iconic Rally Monte Carlo from 23–26 January. This year, Rovanperä will contest all events in Toyota’s Rally1 car as he aims for his third world championship title.
