After having to miss last summer’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, Jenson Button will make his historic racing debut this year, dovetailing his Japanese Super GT commitments with Le Mans Classic and Goodwood Revival outings. The 2009 Formula One World Champion will drive JD Classics-run cars in both meetings.
At the Le Mans Classic on July 6-8, Button will compete in an ex-Tom Walkinshaw Racing Jaguar XJR-9 (chassis 688), the last of the Le Mans-winning models to be built (above). It finished 2ndin the 1988 Spa 1000 Kilometers round of the World Sportscar Championship, driven by Martin Brundle, Johnny Dumfries and Jan Lammers. Which JD Classics car Button will race at September’s Goodwood Revival has yet to be announced.
“It’s an absolute pleasure for us to have Jenson racing with us twice this season,” said JD Classics founder Derek Hood. “We’re proud sponsors of both the Le Mans Classic and Goodwood Revival because we believe they deliver some of the best historic motorsport action on the calendar.”
Button is returning to full-time racing this season in the Japanese Super GT series at the wheel of a Honda NSX-GT, having formalized what had begun as a “sabbatical” from Formula One at the end of 2016 into actual retirement. Last year, besides making his Super GT debut at Suzuka, he contested the Monaco Grand Prix withMcLarenas a stand-in for Fernando Alonso while the Spaniard competed in the Indy 500.
