JOTA’s Jenson Button told Motorsport Week that he considers the FIA World Endurance Championship as one of the best in the world, ahead of the Bahrain season finale.
“For me, this championship is one of the best championships in the world right now, in terms of competition: Drivers, teams, manufacturers,” the #38 JOTA Porsche 963 driver said to Motorsport Week.
“To have 18 cars that can all fight for podiums, there’s nothing like that unless it’s a silhouette series.
“It’s a really fun time to be part of WEC. It’s been good fun.”
The Briton races in the #8 JOTA Porsche alongside Phil Hanson and Oliver Rasmussen. While the team hasn’t had the success they’ve been aiming at this year, Button says he’s learnt a lot, and enjoyed it.
“It’s been a lot of learning,” he said.
“It took me a few races to really get to grips with how the car feels and how you have to drive it. You drive something for so long in a certain way and then these cars are very different.
“It’s more like a big GT car really. You’ve got to be very aggressive with it, so it took a little bit of time [to adapt].
“The last few races, I’ve loved and really, really enjoyed.
“And I’ve enjoyed the the latter part of the season, very much from sort of Le Mans onwards.”
Button recorded his best season finish last time out at the 6 Hours of Fuji.
Along with his co-drivers Oliver Rasmussen and Phil Hanson, they scored sixth place in an action-packed race.
JOTA ‘like a big family’, says Button
Despite not claiming an overall podium yet, with the 8 Hours of Bahrain this weekend still to go, Jenson has relished his season with JOTA.
“They’re very professional, very good at what they do but it’s also like a big family.
“My two teammates are 23 and 25 [years old], but they’ve both raced more in endurance racing than I have.
“Phil [Hanson]’s done seven or eight Le Mans now, and I’ve only done three.
“We come with different experiences. I come with more life experiences than them.
“So, yeah it’s been really good. I think we’ve bounced off each other well, and everyone’s been very open to positive criticism.”
The 2009 Formula 1 world champion previously competed in select WEC rounds during the 2018-19 “super season”, with SMP Racing’s LMP1 project.
He then made his return at last year’s Centenary running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in the fan-favourite Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 stock car.
This year with JOTA, he recorded his best out of three Le Mans starts with ninth place, against 22 other Hypercars.
A 2025 return on the cards for Button
Button also told Motorsport Week that he intends to continue next year although has yet to secure a deal, as JOTA prepares for a new partnership with Cadillac.
“We’ll have to see…” he said, with a grin on his face, when asked if he’ll be back in the championship in 2025.
“I’ll be driving something, I just don’t know what,” he concluded before rushing off to a meeting.
