Jenson Button and Marcus Ericsson, who once competed together in Formula 1 albeit for different teams, are preparing to become partners: next year they will drive Acura sports prototypes from the WTRAndretti team in the 24 Hours of Daytona.
Two American teams, Wayne Taylor Racing and Andretti, have decided to join forces and on the last weekend of January, the 2009 world champion and last year’s Indy 500 winner will pilot their two Acura ARX-06 GTPs.
By the way, in the crew No. 10, in which Ericson will drive, there will be another former Formula 1 driver, Brendon Hartley, and this quartet will also include Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque. Button will join the #40 crew alongside Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz and Colton Herta.
“Marcus is a perfect fit for our team with his approach to racing,” said Wayne Taylor, president of WTRAndretti. “He has finished in the top ten of IndyCar 30 times and won the Indy 500. He is determined and focused and has already shown genuine interest in meeting our team. Marcus is part of the Andretti Global program and I am excited that he will be working with us.
We have been negotiating with Jenson for several years. We were never able to finish the job, but this time everything worked out… He is a very fast driver, a Formula 1 champion, very motivated, but our team also has a fighting spirit. Honda Racing, Acura and all of our sponsors are excited to work with him and we are already looking forward to working together.”
This will be Marcus Erickson’s second participation in the Daytona Marathon: last year he made his debut in this popular race with the Chip Ganassi Racing team. Jenson Button piloted an LMDh class sports prototype in the final of the American IMSA Championship in October, but will compete for the first time in Daytona. But he did participate twice in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, including this year as part of the Garage 56 program.
It’s worth adding that Wayne Taylor’s team drivers have won the Daytona race three times in the last six years.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
