JENSON BUTTON is set to take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race next month in a bid to become only the sixth driver to win both the Formula One world championship and the fabled endurance event in France.
 
Button’s name has appeared on the provisional entry list for this year’s Le Mans line up, which will take place on June 15-16 .

He will compete with co-drivers Philip Hanson, a fellow Brit, and Oliver Rasmussen, from Denmark, in a Porsche 963 entered by Hertz Team Jota.
 
The F1 world championship/Le Mans double has been achieved by only five drivers — Mike Hawthorn (who won Le Mans in 1955), Phil Hill (1958, 1961 and 1962), Jochen Rindt (1965), Graham Hill (1972) and Fernando Alonso (2018 and 2019).
 
Button has appeared at Le Mans twice before — in 2018 and last year, when, with Jimmie Johnson and Mike Rockenfeller behind the wheel, he finished 39th in a field of 62, hampered by mechanical issues.

The winner of the Le Mans 24 is the three-person team that covers the greatest distance over a single day on the Circuit de la Sarthe track, using cars that are much similar to ordinary road vehicles than the futuristic models of F1.
 
One other British team is on this year’s provisional entry list in the “hypercar” category for top drivers, with Brits William Stevens and Calum Ilott scheduled to race alongside the Frenchman Norman Nato, also under the Hetz Team Jota banner and in a Porsche 963. There are 23 entrants in the top class, plus 39 in the other LMP2 and LMGT3 divisions.
 
Button, who is 44, retired from F1 in 2016 and has since competed in a variety of motorsport disciplines, including Nascar in the US.
 
Six other former or current F1 drivers have provisionally entered this year’s event: Mick Schumacher, Romain Grosjean, Antonio Giovinazzi, Nyck de Vries, Robert Kubica and Daniil Kvyat.