Essex-based race driver, Luke Hines, says that his next race will be ‘the biggest by far’. This weekend, the 27-year-old driver will compete, for the first time, in one of the world’s greatest endurance events – the famous Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in Florida.

On January 30 and 31, at Daytona International Speedway, Luke, and 13 other British drivers, seek victory in the 48th annual race around the 5.73-kilometre (3.56-mile) track, with 31 degrees of banking and under floodlights. Hines drives the #48 Porsche 911 GT3 for the Miller Barrett Racing team, formed midway through last season’s GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series.

Hines will co-drive with U.S. drivers Bryce Miller, Kevin Roush and Peter Ludwig, and made his first visit to Daytona earlier this month for a three-day test. He has no doubts he’ll run up front, come the race.

“I am very excited about my first attempt at the Rolex 24 Hour race at Daytona,” Hines said. “My team is strong and professional, and I will give 110 percent. This is the highlight of my endurance career and I will savour every minute. I honestly expect this team will win our class””.

Hines’s endurance sportscar career began with the TOTAL 24 Hours of Spa in 2007. He has competed in the British Touring Car Championship  and in the FIA GT Championship in the GT1 and GT2 classes, driving Saleen, Aston Martin and Porsche. The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona will provide a different challenge, but one Hines expects will make him better.

While Luke is a rookie at Daytona, his father Martin Hines – who owns ZipYoung Guns Racing Team and has assisted in produced stars including David Coulthard, Anthony Davidson, Jason Plato, Gary Paffett and Lewis Hamilton – is no stranger to Daytona. In fact, the multiple British Kart Champion won the SuperKart World Endurance Championships at Daytona in 1986.

“From my karting days around the world, I learnt to pick up circuits pretty quick,” Luke  said. “My father always goes on about the banking at the great circuit of Daytona, since he won there”.

Following Daytona, Hines will return to Europe, where he has a full season driving a prototype in the Le Mans Series endurance championship. However, with a mindset of challenging himself by running additional courses, a fulltime gig in the U.S. isn’t out of the question.“I would love to do the full Rolex Series,” he said.

The 2010 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona may just be the start.