2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button will make his first Le Mans 24 Hours start this year with SMP Racing, driving the #11 SMP Racing BR1 LMP1 alongside Vitaly Petrov and Mikhail Aleshin. After racing at La Sarthe, he will then compete in the remaining rounds of the FIA WEC ‘Super Season’, the team confirming that his first race will be at Le Mans, and not the season opener at Spa.
“I am pleased to welcome Jenson Button as part of our team,” said the founder and head of the SMP Racing programme Boris Rotenberg.
“He is a top-level driver and Formula 1 Champion. He will race with the Russian BR1 prototype, a car of the top LMP1 category. His teammates will be our strongest drivers Mikhail Aleshin and Vitaly Petrov. This car was designed with the most advanced motorsport technologies by the best specialists of the Russian company BR Engineering and Italian concern Dallara.
“I’m happy to welcome Jenson Button as a part of our team. We’re sure our line-up is one of the best and most competitive in the FIA WEC.”
Button, who is driving in Super GT full time this year in GT500 with Team Kunimistu, added: “I’m delighted to be a part of the SMP Racing team in the FIA World Endurance Championship. My teammates for this year will be Mikhail Aleshin and Vitaly Petrov whom I know very well from his racing in Formula 1 and Mikhail obviously from his IndyCar exploits.
“I think with those two and the experience we all have from different types of racing and the team’s fantastic experience in endurance racing we have a great chance to fight at the front and fight for the win and I can’t wait to get going.”
Pierre Fillon, the President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest is also delighted to add another F1 World Champion to the FIA WEC and Le Mans.
“As has been demonstrated over many decades, the 24 Hours of Le Mans remains one of the great motorsport challenges that World Champions wish to conquer,” he said. “We are delighted to welcome Jenson Button to the WEC and to Le Mans in particular and are sure that his presence will be extremely popular with fans across the world.”
Gérard Neveu, CEO of the WEC, has also weighed in, pointing out that it’s great news for Le Mans-goers and for the British fans who will travel to Silverstone in August for Round 3 of the ‘Super Season’.
“This is very good news for all motorsport fans, especially those in the UK who will see Jenson at the 6 Hours of Silverstone in August,” said Neveu. “To welcome a champion of his standing and reputation is great for the whole WEC paddock.”
This story comes just moments after Felipe Nasr was announced as a Cetilar Villorba Corse driver for Le Mans (and the remaining ELMS rounds). With Button now comfirmed, that makes the total number of drivers with F1 experience for Le Mans now 23, six of them being rookies, including Button.
The news also means that Button will drive on the Circuit de la Sarthe two times this year, having already confirmed his participation in the 2018 Le Mans Classic.
SMP Racing’s other BR1 LMP1 (#17) driver line-up is already confirmed, it will see Egor Orudzhev, Matevos Isaakyan and Stéphane Sarrazin share the wheel.
