FIA WEC: maiden World Endurance Championship podium for Jenson Button
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FIA WEC: maiden World Endurance Championship podium for Jenson Button

The British driver competed with Russian outfit SMP Racing in the 6 Hours of Shanghai last weekend, finishing third overall with co-drivers Mikhail Aleshin and Vitaly Petrov. The result confirms that the former Formula One star is adapting well to endurance.

Jenson Button is undoubtedly enjoying racing in endurance. Fresh on the heels of clinching the Japanese Super GT title with teammate Naoki Yamamoto, the British driver put in a fine performance last weekend at the 6 Hours of Shanghai, the fifth round of the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship season. SMP Racing’s #11 BR Engineering BR1- AER that Button shares with Mikhail Aleshin and Vitaly Petrov placed third overall, making it the top non-hybrid prototype.

Button and his co-drivers had to battle with difficult weather conditions to clinch this third place and the privilege of climbing on to the podium. “As expected, the Shanghai race was a 6-hour marathon in the rain. It’s not easy to drive in such wet conditions but, fortunately, I managed not to spin, unlike many other drivers. It was a good race overall with an interesting battle with the #1 Rebellion and a couple of times with Toyota. It was nice to finish on the podium with Toyota. The team did an excellent job and it’s the first incident-free race we have had. We built a good strategy and learned from our mistakes in Fuji,”  the 2009 F1 World Champion enthused.

The #17 BR Engineering BR1–AER (Isaakyan/Orudzhev/Sarrazin) was less fortunate, encountering a number of technical hitches before crashing out.

Although the 6 Hours of Shanghai was the final race of the 2018 calendar year, there are still three rounds of the FIA WEC 2018–19 Super Season to go. Next up is the 1000 Miles of Sebring in the United States on 15 March 2019. The competitors will then return to Europe for the Total 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps (4 May 2019) before a fascinating climax at the 87th 24 Hours of Le Mans (15–16 June 2019).

Quote derived from SMP Racing press release (in Russian)

PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES DU MANS, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SATURDAY 16 JUNE 2018, RACE. Jenson Button made his FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) début with Russian team SMP Racing at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

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