Jerzy Dudek is defending a race team now

With the announcement of the entry list for the Dubai 24 Hours, to occur on January 15th and 16th, the participating teams were already announced, as well some drivers, with cars with its lineups already complete. Between the crop of sportscar stars that may appear until the final version of the entry list, in the A3T class, composed by touring cars but the TCR ones, a team in particular deserves attention by a name in the lineup.

Not all race fans know at least a little about soccer, but once in a while they heard the name of Jerzy Dudek. And the guys that share passion for soccer and racing, you already know the guy: the Polish goalkeeper who defended the color of Feyenoord, Liverpool, Real Madrid and of the Poland national team, as he conquered title in Eredivisie, La Liga, UEFA Super Cup and in the UEFA Champions League.

But enough about soccer, as the matter here is racing. Fact is that after retiring from the national team and from soccer in 2013, Dudek followed the steps of French ace goalkeeper Fabien Barthez, and switched from the pitch to the circuit, as he started a racing career, competing in the Volkswagen Castrol Cup, now renamed Volkswagen Golf Cup. At the moment, Dudek’s best result was coincidentally during the 2015 season, where he achieved a 10th place finish during the feature race at Poznan, Poland.

After a year doing a part-time season, Dudek is already in his second full season campaign in the series, and will now expand his horizons to endurance racing, as fellow Golf Cup drivers will join him during the Dubai 24 Hours, in a SEAT Leon Supercopa under the RTG by G banner, alongside fellow countrymen Adam Gladysz and Marcin Jaros, as well the Lithuanian Robertas Kupcikas and Swede Simon Larsson. Their opponents for a class win will be pretty tough, as traditional Dutch squad Red Camel Jordans.nl and 2015 24H SERIES class champions from Memac Ogilvy Duel Racing will be specially hard to beat.

Barthez is now a good amateur driver to have in a sportscar squad, and maybe this experience can trigger Dudek to go into the same way.

PHOTO: Volkswagen Golf Cup