Competitors in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship only have a couple of weeks to prepare between the Roar before the 24 and the actual Rolex 24 at Daytona.

While teams are hard at work, drivers are working hard at their fitness, reviewing data, working on final sponsorship deals – or – in some cases, warming-up by doing another 24 hour race this weekend.

The Dubai 24 Hour kicked off this morning (the race is run on Friday and Saturday) with a host of regulars from the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship taking part.

BMW boys including Bill Auberlen, Dirk Werner, Paul Dalla Lana and new GT Daytona ace Dane Cameron are all teamed together aboard a Schubert Motorsport’s BMW Z4 GT3.

Mercedes won the race last year with Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon. Jeroen Bleekemolen returns to the team this year hoping to repeat their 2013 results. The team are out to honor their fallen teammate Sean Edwards who was killed in a testing crash in Australia while coaching last year.

New Starworks LMPC recrcuit and former World Touring Car Champion Rob Huff is also in Dubai aboard a Mercedes.

Ferrari regulars Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander are contesting the UAE event while Ram Racing returns to the scene of their debut race with ALMS regulars Jan Magnussen (pictured above) and Johnny Mowlem as part of their driving line-up

Aston Martin factory drivers  Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner also will complete two 24 hour races in January  while fan favorite “Go Shane Lewis” will drive in Dubai behind the wheel of a Lotus.

Follow live timing, video and results at //live.24hseries.com/