JOTA driver and former F1 racer Anthony Davidson has announced that the upcoming Eight Hours of Bahrain will be his last as a professional racing driver.
Davidson, 42, currently lies third in the LMP2 standings in the FIA World Endurance Championship after picking up a third-placed finish in the Saturday’s Six Hours of Bahrain.
He announced his retirement on his social media channels.
The Briton began his single seater career in 1999, winning several races and championship before joining BAR as a test driver in 2001. He made his Formula One race debut with Minardi in 2002 before returning to BAR as a test driver and later a third driver.
After an additional Grand Prix outing in 2005, Davidson was signed to a full-time F1 seat with Super Aguri in 2007, but lost his drive when the team collapsed during the 2008 campaign.
While he would join Mercedes as a reserve and later simulator driver, he would not race in F1 again and instead transitioned to endurance racing. He first raced with Peugeot and later joined Toyota’s LMP1 programme.
He was infamously injured in a heavy crash in the 2012 24 Hours of Le Mans, but recovered and returned to win the world championship with Toyota in 2014.
Davidson remained with Toyota in a race capacity until 2018, when he was placed back into a test and reserve driver role to move aside for the incoming Fernando Alonso.
Instead, he joined DragonSpeed in the LMP2 ranks, where he has raced ever since. Since the 2019-20 campaign, he has raced alongside Antonio Felix da Costa and Roberto Gonzalez at JOTA, winning two races and taking an additional six podium finishes.
