Jenson Button joins Daytona 24 Hours line-up for 2024 race

Daytona International Speedway, Florida January 27-28

The 2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button is due to make his debut in the 2024 Daytona 24 Hours driving for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti. The Brit has a vast amount of experience in endurance racing, notably driving for the Garage 56 programme in last year’s Le Mans 24 Hours. He also took the wheel of a JDC-Miller MotorSport Porsche 963 for one round of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship, at the end-of-the-season Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta.

Button won’t be the only world-class driver to be making his debut in the GTP class at Daytona in January; Josef Newgarden will be appearing for Porsche Penske. Newgarden, who raced in the LMP2 class in 2022, will be joined by IndyCar stalwarts Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi) and Colton Herta (alongside Button). Dixon will be hoping to become the seventh driver in the history of the Daytona 24 Hours to win more than three times – his last victory here was in 2020.

However, despite winning the last two Daytona 24 Hours, Meyer Shank Racing has decided not to enter, stepping away from IMSA for 2024 to focus on IndyCar, but intending to return at some point.

The team came into controversy over last year’s win in Florida after it was found to be manipulating tyre pressure data during the race. It was fined £40,000 by IMSA and deducted 200 points in the drivers’ and teams’ championship standings, but kept the race win.

Meyer Shanks’s decision not to return means four-time IndyCar title winner Hélio Castroneves will not be competing in this year’s event. Castroneves became only the second driver to win three consecutive Daytona 24 Hours.

Regardless of the disappointment of Castroneves not racing, the Daytona 24 Hours gives nail-biting action round the clock – and with more than 60 cars on the grid, there’s a lot going on.

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VSCC – Measham Rally
Shirl Heath, Leominster, January 13-14
The year’s first event for the Vintage Sports-Car Club, the Measham Rally is one of the great challenges of vintage competition motoring. The mixture of navigational rallying combined with tricky seasonal conditions and mid-winter darkness makes the rally an enthusiasts’ favourite: finishing is a reward in itself.

WRC – Monte Carlo Rally
Gap, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France, January 25-28
The Monte Carlo Rally remains the jewel in the FIA World Rally Championship – and this will be its 92nd running. Eight-times WRC champion Sébastian Ogier was the winner last year for Toyota; the Frenchman has finished on the podium here every year since 2013. A win here for three-times WRC title runner-up Elfyn Evans would be a shot in the arm for his championship aspirations. Could this be his here?

Formula e – Diriyah ePrix
Diriyah Street Circuit, Saudi Arabia, January 26-27
Formula E makes an early start in warmer climes, easing the withdrawal symptoms of F1 fans across the winter break. The season gets underway in Mexico City before heading to the Middle East for Rounds 2 and 3 – headlined as a “double-header in the dark”. The circuit is regarded as one of the trickier ones on the season schedule, with 21 twists and turns.

Asian Le Mans – Abu Dhabi four hours
Yas Marina Circuit, UAE, February 9-11
After Asian Le Mans’ opening rounds in Malaysia (double-header) and Dubai, the series moves on to its fourth and fifth (and final) races of its short season, held at the Yas Marina Circuit. With a variety of LMP and GT cars on track, the series has caught the attention of an international audience due to the presence of former Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin on the grid.

MORE EVENTS
Feb 4 NASCAR, Coliseum, Los Angeles
Feb 10 Snetterton Stage Rally, Norfolk
Feb 16-18 FRME, Dubai Autodrome, UAE