Jenson Button has announced he will take part in this year’s famous Le Mans 24 Hours race.
The 2009 Formula One world champion, 38, has been competing in Japan since he retired from Grand Prix racing two years ago but he will bid to emulate Britain’s Graham Hill and Mike Hawthorn by winning the prestigious race which takes place in June.
Button’s former McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso will also be part of the star-studded cast in Le Mans.
Button will line up alongside former Renault driver Vitaly Petrov and Mikhail Aleshin for the Russian team SMP Racing.
SMP Racing was founded by billionaire Boris Rotenberg, whose brother Arkady is a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As well as competing at Le Mans, Button will also race in front of his home fans at Silverstone later this summer as part of the World Endurance Championship.
[BREAKING] Another World Champion joins the #WEC Family for the Super Season – Welcome to @JensonButton š
The British driver will race for the full Super Season (except Spa 2018) for @SMP_Racing in the LMP1 category alongside @mikhailaleshin and @vitalypetrov. pic.twitter.com/n5mdliS3wn
ā WEC (@FIAWEC) April 27, 2018
“As you can imagine it has been a dream of mine to race at Le Mans,” Button said. “It is every driver’s dream to go on and clinch that win and I am no different.
“My team-mates for this year will be Mikhail and Vitaly Petrov, who I know very well from his racing in Formula One.
“With those two and all the experience we have from different types of racing, and the team’s experience in endurance racing, we go to Le Mans to fight for the win.
“We have a really good chance of being competitive at Le Mans.
“First of all it is survival, and then you see where you are after the 24 hours and hopefully we are fighting for that victory.”
Nick Tandy was the last British driver to win the Le Mans race, when he teamed up with German F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg back in 2015.
Button took part in more than 300 grands prix in a career which climaxed in winning the 2009 championship with Brawn GP.
