Button will have to get used to the traffic at Daytona

In eight days, the 24-hour race in Daytona will start, traditionally the start of the American motorsport season, and Jenson Button will have to race this marathon for the first time in his career at the wheel of the Acura ARX-06 GTP sports prototype of the GTP/LMDh- class.

Of course he has experience in endurance racing, but even with his universal racing training, Jenson is willing to admit that it won’t be easy for him to adapt to this WTRAndretti team car.

Button will compete in the 24 Hours of Daytona as part of the No. 40 crew of Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz and Colton Herta.

In December he piloted the Acura ARX-06 hypercar for the first time during tests in Daytona, but after that his contract with the Jota team in the World Endurance Championship was confirmed and Jenson managed to work on private tests in Bahrain with a Porsche. 963 hypercar.

“I don’t want to compare these two cars, but they have about the same capabilities,” Sportscar365 quotes Button. – Both are well coordinated, both exhibit quite predictable behavior. The systems with which they are equipped also allow you to adjust certain parameters, but these systems have different names and the switches are placed differently on the handlebars, and the most difficult thing is to remember where everything is!

This is a complex technique and requires special attention to understand what tools you have at your disposal. The most difficult thing is to drive a car and think about all this at the same time. But it’s a good thing we have to work on testing for a few days this week because so far I’ve only done 25 laps in the Acura. I hope I can ride for a while longer.”

Because not all teams were yet working at the December tests in Daytona, Button still has to learn to deal with traffic: “I would like to be in traffic as quickly as possible, because there were fewer cars on the track during the tests in December.

I watched last year’s race and I remember that the overtaking situation on the side of the circle that is inside the stadium was absolutely insane. Therefore, I still have to learn how to overcome this traffic. In the Petit Le Mans race it was no better, especially because it was on a very small circuit, but I was driving a different car and I had to behave differently.

I’ve been negotiating with the Acura team and Wayne Taylor for years – I think it took about three years, but it just couldn’t be combined (with the Daytona gig) with my schedules. Now the team has two cars and this is the right approach. We have eight experienced riders and it’s great to work with such a team. I would like to get started on the track as soon as possible and see how we look compared to our competitors.”