Jenson Button has sampled an eclectic mixture of racing collection previously few years since his final full-time racing programme in Tremendous GT concluded in 2019.
Now 43, the 2009 System 1 world champion had a disappointing British GT cameo at Silverstone in 2020 as hidden glitches dogged his McLaren 720S GT3. He then made a one-off look for his personal JBXE crew within the inaugural spherical of the all-electric Excessive E collection in 2021, continued the off-road theme by coming into two Nitro RallyCross rounds in 2022 and has made three highway course appearances on this 12 months’s NASCAR Cup Sequence alongside a return to the Le Mans 24 Hours in a modified Chevrolet Camaro Cup car.
Having stood his floor in opposition to the nice ol’ boys in NASCAR, setting the sixth quickest lap on his most up-to-date outing at Indianapolis amid what he called a “messy” race, Button isn’t afraid of throwing himself right into a problem. And he’ll be embarking on his newest one this weekend by leaping in for the ultimate spherical of the IMSA SportsCar Championship at Highway Atlanta, the 10-hour Petit Le Mans, for his debut within the North American collection.
Button isn’t a newcomer to prototype sportcar racing by any means, having contested 4 races within the 2019 World Endurance Championship with SMP Racing’s BR Engineering BR1 LMP1 machine, together with that 12 months’s Le Mans. However the JDC-Miller Porsche 963 he’ll share with Mike Rockenfeller and Tijmen van der Helm is an altogether completely different beast, which Button admitted in a current interview with the IMSA collection web site had been “a little bit of a shock to the system” in his first 10 laps of testing on the quick, flowing Highway Atlanta circuit.
“Getting used to downforce automobiles once more and a circuit that’s quick, flowing, blind and unforgiving was fascinating,” he remarked. “However to be honest, I beloved it. Completely beloved the problem. I really feel at house driving high-downforce automobiles. It’s in my make-up. It’s what I’ve accomplished for 20 years.”
Button confirmed he was adept at studying excessive downforce sportscars by profitable the Tremendous GT title on the finish of his first full season in 2018 with Naoki Yamamoto. And racing with hybrid know-how will likely be acquainted too, with Button’s last three full seasons in F1 and final hurrah at Monaco in 2017 coming in the course of the V6 turbo period when he performed a key function in aiding Honda by way of its traumatic return.
Button has earlier prototype expertise from his days in LMP1, however the hybrid 963 is a heavier automotive and makes use of tyres that begin from chilly
Picture by: JEP / Motorsport Images
However as present IMSA championship chief Pipo Derani factors out, even for drivers who’ve been within the automotive all 12 months “the quantity of instruments that you’ve is typically overwhelming”. Rapidly attending to grips with managing these throughout his stints on the wheel will likely be necessary for Button to optimise his efficiency.
“You may make so many modifications that may both assist or take you in a totally wrong way, particularly when you’re making an attempt to take care of all of the modifications in the course of site visitors, slower classes,” causes Motion Specific Cadillac driver Derani.
Subsequently, Button can’t count on that his F1 expertise will permit him to waltz in and be the cream of the crop immediately. IMSA regulars polled by Autosport counsel that Button’s largest challenges to get his head round lie broadly inside two camps: site visitors and tyres.
With the LMP2, LMP3, GTD Professional and GTD lessons all becoming a member of the highest GTP automobiles on the monitor in a capability 54-car area, Penske Porsche driver Nick Tandy says Highway Atlanta will likely be akin to NASCAR quick tracks Martinsville and Bristol by way of the density of automobiles per kilometre. The GTP automobiles will likely be continuously overtaking slower equipment, in order Acura driver Filipe Albuquerque places it, “you by no means have two laps precisely the identical”.
“You actually won’t ever, ever get a transparent lap. It’s at all times irritating however it’s coping with the frustration which I believe is typically troublesome in these conditions whenever you’re in a quick automotive” Nick Tandy
This received’t be information to Button, who remarked that “IMSA is one thing I’ve watched for years”, however Tandy says he’ll have to be mentally ready for a way irritating it may be.
“You actually won’t ever, ever get a transparent lap,” explains Tandy, who’s 5 factors off the summit along with Mathieu Jaminet. “It’s at all times irritating however it’s coping with the frustration which I believe is typically troublesome in these conditions whenever you’re in a quick automotive.”
BMW’s Nick Yelloly echoes that “site visitors goes to be a nightmare” and says Button can have his work minimize out to compensate for the data others have spent all 12 months growing on method overtaking slower automobiles relying on which of its drivers is on the wheel.
“He’s a incredible driver, so I’ve little question he’ll be quick,” says Yelloly, who remembers fondly choosing the newly topped world champion’s brains on the 2009 Autosport Awards when the youthful Briton was in System Renault.
Fixed site visitors will likely be essential for Button to handle
Picture by: Artwork Fleischmann
“However the site visitors in IMSA and the aggression that typically you must need to get by these guys is kind of excessive. Additionally, you study by way of a season since you drive with the automobiles extra typically, you understand who’s in X, Y and Z automotive, you know the way to method a professional or a pro-am.”
Tyres are one other main factor that Button should come to phrases with. As within the WEC’s Hypercar class, by which Porsche and Cadillac’s GTP automobiles additionally compete as LMDhs, IMSA utilises Michelin rubber that begins from chilly with out tyre heaters. In circumstances the place monitor temperatures are low, as are anticipated this weekend when the solar drops and the monitor falls below complete darkness, Tandy notes that “tyre warmup is treacherous” and explains that drivers need to be on their guard.
Perception: The challenges of making Hypercar tyres without heaters
“You possibly can fairly simply both lose 10 seconds on an out-lap being too cautious or you’ll be able to destroy a tyre of which we now have a restricted allocation in three corners,” he says, including that it was “the most important distinction” to get used to upon his return to prototype racing for the primary time since Porsche canned its 919 LMP1 challenge on the finish of 2017.
“The hybrid system and the braking programs are built-in by regulation, it’s typically fairly troublesome to really feel what’s happening below braking when the tyre is chilly. We now have grip as soon as they heat up, however it’s tremendous sketchy after we depart the pits on a chilly monitor.”
Having crashed on chilly tyres within the warmup at Highway America, and seen BMW’s Augusto Farfus shunt on the opening lap at Watkins Glen for the same purpose, Derani’s team-mate Alexander Sims warns that it’s all too straightforward for the uninitiated to make a pricey mistake.
“Going into the evening as temperatures drop, I anticipate it to catch some individuals out truthfully by way of just about no fault of their very own,” he tells Autosport. “It’s simply circumstantial typically. You come out of the pitlane and also you’ve bought a set of headlights behind you that simply inevitably distract you and also you’re not focusing 100% on the automotive, which is what you completely want at each stage on this tyre when it’s chilly.”
Echoing Tandy, Sims discovered studying the 2023 tyres “the most important problem” as they “would overheat fairly simply and simply appeared a bit extra choosy with driving types and set-up” in comparison with the 2022 tyre that “you can push a bit more durable and it reacted properly to it”.
“I simply overworked the tyre too typically for too many races earlier than it actually sunk house that I wanted to essentially adapt my driving,” he admits.
Sims cautions that chilly tyres are troublesome to handle
Picture by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
No less than on this regard, Button received’t be the one high-profile identify attending to grips with the 963 within the public eye. Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden is making his first GTP start and solely his second ever IMSA look – having completed fifth in LMP2 at Daytona in a one-off with Tower Motorsports – within the works #7 Penske entry.
However whereas Tandy stresses that there are many query marks over its potential at Highway America, Button will likely be racing a automotive which within the palms of the manufacturing unit crew has received every of the previous two IMSA races that GTP automobiles have been eligible for. And in addition to having fun with sturdy type of late, the 963 has been configured to be accessible for a crew “that hasn’t been operating the automotive to exit and doubtlessly race the subsequent day”, Tandy explains.
As a testomony to that, JDC-Miller has already taken two fourth locations in its partial marketing campaign with the one GTP mannequin that has been made accessible for patrons to purchase in 12 months one, with Proton (in each IMSA and WEC) and WEC outfit Jota additionally taking the plunge.
“From that viewpoint it in all probability is the very best automotive to leap straight into, clearly not figuring out the opposite automobiles,” Tandy provides. “There’s been clearly numerous work to make the capabilities of the automotive for the motive force and likewise for the crew as intuitive as potential.
“Getting into for a race in IMSA, I believe you’ll be able to choose few higher circuits than Highway Atlanta. The monitor is good and the racing is at all times enjoyable and thrilling” Alexander Sims
“Porsche doesn’t need to provide groups with automobiles that take days and days of testing to go and determine earlier than they will race. So it’s doubtlessly one of many higher automobiles to leap into I suppose.”
Along with his crew not within the championship battle, Button might be forgiven for saying that he’d be feeling his manner in, however has pledged that there will likely be “no quarters given, undoubtedly not”. Having targeted a WEC return next year, he is aware of {that a} sturdy displaying at some of the chaotic races on the IMSA schedule will solely assist his case to display that he stays a power in sportscars.
And will he take pleasure in himself, why cease on the one IMSA outing? Toyota WEC aces Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Brendon Hartley have made common outings at Petit lately, and there’s no purpose why Button couldn’t mix a WEC gig with outings in IMSA’s longer races that type a part of the Endurance Cup mini-series that additionally contains the Daytona 24 Hours, Sebring 12 Hours and 6 Hours of Watkins Glen. His rivals are assured that Button received’t remorse his determination.
Button has set his sights on getting again to a full-time racing programme in 2024 in both WEC or IMSA
Picture by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images
“Getting into for a race in IMSA, I believe you’ll be able to choose few higher circuits than Highway Atlanta,” says Sims. “The monitor is good and the racing is at all times enjoyable and thrilling.”
Albuquerque provides: “I believe he’ll love the race. For me, it’s top-of-the-line races on the earth.”
Button’s newest problem in his storied motorsport profession will likely be fiercely aggressive, however his interview with the IMSA web site means that he’s ready to face it.
“Endurance is the place I need to be,” Button stated. “Multiclass racing throws one thing else into the combo with site visitors. There’s at all times much more motion due to it. The way in which IMSA is run, you don’t know who’s going to win till after the final security automotive, mainly. Endurance racing is the place it’s at.”
Button will likely be within the thick of the motion on his return to prototypes
Picture by: Artwork Fleischmann