It was a strange experience attending the Rookie Drivers Briefing before this year’s Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona for WTRAndretti GTP driver Jenson Button. But it was a requirement, as the 44-year-old Formula 1 World Championship-winning Briton is new to the Rolex and the challenges it presents.
As you’d expect though, with the build-up now behind him and plenty of laps under his belt, he’s relaxed and ready to go. The Rolex 24 is a race which has been on his radar for a long time. An endurance classic he has seen other drivers from the F1 sphere tackle, and in the case of Kamui Kobayashi, win, in recent years. But until now, he explains, he couldn’t fit it into his busy schedule.
“I’ve been wanting to do this race for many years and been speaking to Wayne (Taylor) for many years. It just hasn’t worked out with timing and different things. But it did this year and I jumped into the WEC programme too,” he explained.
“There’s nothing else (on the bucket list), nothing that stands out. It’s very special.”
He’s lapping up the experience, enjoying the atmosphere in the paddock and the fan interactions that come with Rolex 24 race week. As he says, “I’m at the point in my career where I don’t have to go racing. It’s not a job for me!”
Interestingly, since playing a part in the NASCAR Garage 56 project with Hendrick Motorsports last year at Le Mans, he feels that the fans in the USA see him in a very different way, adding to the experience.
“It’s funny, half the fans that ask for a picture or a photo, have one of me in a NASCAR now. Half of the time it’s F1 pictures, but the other half it’s a NASCAR. It’s cool. The NASCAR stuff, they might have noticed me in the couple of races I did. But it’s the Garage 56 stuff (people know him for) because we were going as part of NASCAR to race against the world. We got a lot of love here.”
This weekend he’s set to share the #40 Acura with Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz and Colton Herta, and is relishing the team environment at Wayne Taylor Racing.
“It’s great to work with a cool team that has won this race many times and some drivers that I have a huge amount of respect for,” he continued. “Obviously, I’m close to Jordan, he was the coach for Garage 56 and we raced together in NASCAR a little bit.”
The deal with WTR adds to his full-season FIA WEC programme with HERTZ Team JOTA, which begins next month in Qatar. It’s meant learning the ins and outs of two LMDh cars in a matter of months following his IMSA GTP debut at Petit Le Mans last year with JDC-Miller.
“The big thing is learning the systems in the car. That’s what takes time. When they come on the radio and say “Multi this, Multi that”, there’s just so much,” Button said.
“There’s a hundred more things to do in this car than a Formula One car. It’s so technically advanced it’s nuts! In Formula One you do a lot of this behind the scenes, but we can do it in the car. There’s so much to adjust. So it’s about understanding the systems where they are on the steering wheel and what effect they can have on the car.”
There’s a hundred more things to do in this car than a Formula One car. It’s so technically advanced it’s nuts!
Expectations for the race he says, are hard to judge. The team is happy with the car set-up, but there is clearly a concern that the ARX-06s are down on outright speed. All is not lost though. The Acura is a strong, reliable package, and the regulations often make for a close race in the final hours.
“The third and fourth drivers get time in the car, but you always want more, more new tyres and longer runs,” he explained. “But we’re in a good position, we’ve done a lot of pit-stop practice and we’re finely tuned there.
“On pace, ” he continued. “I think we’re off on a few cars, especially the Cadillacs. Every session they’ve gone out and just ‘bang’, put a time in. So in outright pace, we’re not quite there. But as a team, we’re very good. If it was a sprint race you’d say we were slightly on the back foot. But I think in a 24-hour race it doesn’t matter, it’s how you execute.
It’s a mad race, 59 cars and 49 of them are slower than us
“I’m looking forward to it, it’s a mad race, 59 cars and 49 of them are slower than us. There’s no peace and quiet and it’s very easy to have an incident.”
What does the future hold for Button beyond the Rolex 24? A full-season IMSA drive, he says, is not on the cards. Instead, the focus is on his FIA WEC Hypercar commitments, which he hopes will last beyond this season.
“I don’t want to be jumping around now,” Button concluded. “I am 44, I won’t be racing for many more years. I’m fully on it in wanting to achieve over the next couple of years. I don’t want to be switching championships. I think I’ll be doing WEC for the next couple of years.”
Featured image and Daytona images courtesy of IMSA/Dole
