Not only are fans looking forward to the debut of the new SRT Viper GTS-R machines at Mid-Ohio this month, there is now added excitement for the program with US racing legend Tommy Kendall scheduled to make a full-time racing comeback with the team.

A four-time Trans-Am champion and former Rolex 24 at Daytona winner, Kendall hasn’t competed in six years but shone during a recent shoot-out held by the team to find a full-time teammate for Marc Goossens, Dominik Farnbacher and Kuno Wittmer who will be the other full-time drivers.

Current IndyCar points leader Ryan Hunter-Reay will also join the team for Petit Le Mans.

“I went out on a high [in 1997] and my big-time professional career ended,” Kendall said on Wind Tunnel.

“I had been asked a lot of when I was coming back and I wasn’t really sure if that day was ever going to come. And then I got a call out of the blue about six weeks ago that took me to a drivers shootout. I said, ‘What the heck? Let’s do it.”

Click here to view Tommy Kendall’s announcement on SPEED’s Wind Tunnel