2017 Le Mans winner and former WEC champion Brendon Hartley has signed with Action Express Racing to drive its Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R, in the seat filled by Christian Fittipaldi at Daytona.
The seat has become available as Fittipaldi opted to retire after this year’s Rolex 24 Hours and switch to a sporting director role with the team. Hartley will race with full-season duo Joao Barbosa and Filipe Albuqueque in the race.
He will also be doing double duty during the Sebring weekend, as the Kiwi has also been named with SMP Racing to drive one of its BR1 LMP1 cars in the 1000-Mile WEC race the day before the 12 Hours of Sebring. He will also race at Spa with SMP Racing, in Jenson Button’s seat.
This is, therefore, Hartley’s second confirmed prototype drive for 2019, after his Formula One exit at the end of the 2018 season. It will also be Hartley’s second Sebring 12 Hours start after he raced in the event with ESM driving a Nissan DPi back in 2017.
“With Christian (Fittipaldi) deciding to retire, we needed to find another driver who is fast and a great team player, and Brendon (Hartley) has a great background and attitude that should be a great match with Joao (Barbosa) and Filipe (Albuquerque),” said team manager Gary Nelson.
“We’ve followed Brendon through the years since we first saw him race so well in GRAND-AM, so we are glad that it worked out for him to join us at Sebring.”
