Stoffel Vandoorne with SMP at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

As we announced to you in AUTOhebdo, Jenson Button will not participate in the 87th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans (June 15-16). The Briton will give way to Stoffel Vandoorne, who will also be there from the 6 Hours of Spa (May 4) in place of Brendon Hartley, heading to Toyota. The old pilot McLaren will compete alongside Vitaly Petrov and Mikhail Aleshin in the No. 1 BR11-AER of the Russian team.

“The LMP1 category is very demanding and their performances are very close to the F1, confided the current resident of HWA Racelab in Formula E, which will make its debut in Endurance. I will thus have the opportunity to reunite with ART Grand Prix and many people with whom I worked during my GP2 title (in 2015. Editor’s note). I am also delighted to share the wheel with such experienced drivers as Vitaly and Mikhail. I also want to help the team develop to make a good impression. »

Jenson Button returned to the reasons which pushed him to ignore the 24 Hours of Le Mans, an event where he was not successful last year since his crew had retired with an engine problem shortly before the finish after having already lost several hours at the start of the race.

« J’appréciais vraiment piloter pour SMP Racing et j’ai goûté aux joies du podium avec cette équipe, mais j’ai décidé qu’il était temps que je passe davantage de temps avec ma compagne durant sa grossesse plutôt que de passer deux semaines au Mans. Ce choix était plus facile à faire en ayant le sentiment que Toyota est actuellement imbattable », confided the 2009 F1 champion.