WTRAndretti(Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti) has confirmed Jenson Button will race alongside Marcus Ericsson for the upcoming 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Ex-F1 World Champion Jenson Button will be making his debut at the upcoming 24 Hours of Daytona for WTRAndretti alongside 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson.
Button will join Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz and Colton Herta in the #40 Acura ARX-06 GTP, as it was confirmed last week and this will be the Briton’s first time racing at Daytona 24.
Marcus Ericsson will join Ricky Taylor, Brendon Hartley and Filipe Albuquerque will be the drivers of the sister #10 Acura in 2024 as the winner of the 2022 Indianapolis 500 will support the team’s endeavors.
Button made his IMSA season debut in October at the grueling 10-hour Petit Le Mans, where he drove a Porsche 963 LMDh for JDC Miller MotorSports and finished fifth alongside Mike Rockenfeller and Tijmen van der Helm.
“I am very happy to announce that I’ll be racing with WTRAndretti at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in the No. 40 Acura ARX-06 with one of my Le Mans teammates and good pal Jordan Taylor, super speedy Louis Deletraz and Colton Herta whose career in IndyCar I’ve watched with great interest,” Button said.
“I had my first taste of IMSA last month at Petit Le Mans and loved it. I couldn’t be happier to race at Daytona with such a prestigious team that has achieved so much in endurance racing and especially at Daytona.”
Button made his comeback to 24-hour endurance racing following a three-year break at the Centenary Le Mans, running the Garage 56 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 NASCAR entry.
Ericsson made his IMSA debut and finished sixth in the 2022 Daytona 24 while driving the Cadillac DPi from Chip Ganassi Racing.
“I’m very excited and proud to join the WTRAndretti team for the Daytona 24-hour,” said Ericsson. “After getting a taste of the race in 2022, I have been eager to get back on the grid for this legendary race.
“It feels fantastic to be racing with one of the best and most successful teams in the sport.
“I’m already counting down the days and I’m looking forward to working with the team and my new teammates.
“It is extra special for me to be racing with Acura, HPD and HRC which I know very well from racing my entire IndyCar career with them. Bring on 2024!”
Team Principal Wayne Taylor said: “Marcus is absolutely the perfect guy for our team because of the way he goes about racing.
“He’s finished in the top 10 something like 30 times in IndyCar, he’s won the Indy 500. He has really shown loads of interest by meeting with the team already and he is very dedicated and focused.
“I’m happy to have him, and of course, as he is part of Andretti Global program, so we are lucky to have him.
“Jenson and I have spoken for quite a few years. We’ve just never been able to make it happen, but this round we got it to happen.
“He drove for JDC at Petit Le Mans and the relationship that he’s built with Jordan from the Garage 56 program closes the loop on our driver lineups as Jenson will take the last driver slot that’s open.
“The guy is really fast. I mean he is a Formula One World Champion. He’s very motivated, my team is very motivated, HPD and Acura are motivated with having him as well as all our sponsors.
“We look forward to working with him.
“He obviously is coming from a different background, but we’ve had Formula One drivers before, and they’ve all done really well,” referring to their previous Daytona 24 winners Fernando Alonso and Kamui Kobayashi.
“I have no question about his ability to do well for us and for himself. I’m really excited after three years to finally get Jenson to sign up with us.”
Michael Andretti, CEO of Andretti Global added: “I’m very happy with the driver lineups that WTRAndretti will put forth in both the No. 10 and No. 40 Acura ARX-06 GTP cars for Daytona.
“WTRAndretti has a strong history of running at the top level and we’re pushing hard to put together all the pieces to bring home race wins and have two cars contending for the Championship.
“The addition of Marcus and Jenson to an already proven roster of endurance drivers will make for an exciting and competitive 24 hours.”
