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Driving along side Dominik Farnbacher, Patrick Pilet and Allan Simonsen, US GT Championship race winner and 2011 Dodge Viper Cup champion Ben Keating has finished 7th (in GT class, 17th overall) in the 50th running of the famous Daytona 24 hour race.

Amazingly, Keating drove in not one but two of the five Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars entered by TRG.

The number 66 car was sponsored by ViperExchange.com, hinting at Keating’s usual rides, his USGTC Viper Competition Coupe and his Dodge Viper ACR-X cup car.

He drove the number 68 car with Carlos Gomez and Chris Cumming, Kevin Estre and Damien Faulkner.

Keating is no stranger to strong results on combination road/oval courses. At NARRA’s Texas World Speedway event last year he won both the Dodge Viper Cup and US GT Championship race on the same day.

And it was at NARRA’s Daytona event late last year that Keating wrapped up the 2011 Dodge Viper Cup. Interestingly, Keating had invited his Daytona 24 hour co-driver, Dominik Farnbacher, to race his second Viper ACR-X that weekend.

Another US GT Championship race winner, Eric Curran, also competed in this year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona. Curran, who won Saturday’s USGTC race at Daytona in October last year, finished 30th in class after the Stevenson Motorsports Camaro he was driving suffered from mechanical issues.

While not heading back to Daytona this year, the 2012 NARRA schedule does have the US GT Championship heading to some of America’s most prestigious tracks including Road Atlanta, Road America, VIR and Watkins Glen.

In less than a month the green flag will drop on the USGTC season at Inde Motorsports Ranch near Willcox, Arizona. The March 23-25 event will also feature the Whelen US TimeTrail Championship and NARRA’s US Performance Driver Education program.