Button will partner Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz and Colton Herta aboard the team’s #40 Acura ARX-06 GTP, as the four-time Daytona 24 Hours winning squad expands to two cars for the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship season.
It will be the 2009 Formula 1 champion’s second IMSA outing after making his debut in a JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 at Petit Le Mans.
Meanwhile, 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner and new Andretti IndyCar signing Ericsson completes the roster for the team’s incumbent #10 entry that features Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Brendon Hartley.
Although Button is still fairly new to IMSA, he has two previous appearances in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Last year racing the Hendrick Motorsports-prepared Chevrolet Camaro Garage 56 entry, he worked closely with Jordan Taylor who was part of the team in a supporting capacity.
He said: “I had my first taste of IMSA last month at Petit Le Mans and loved it. I couldn’t be happier to race at Daytona with such a prestigious team that has achieved so much in endurance racing and especially at Daytona.”
Ericsson, who joined Andretti Global’s IndyCar outfit over the offseason after spending the previous four years at Chip Ganassi Racing, will be making his second start at Daytona.
The Swede finished sixth in the former DPi category in the 2022 edition of the endurance classic.
“After getting a taste of the race in 2022, I have been eager to get back on the grid for this legendary race,” he said. “It feels fantastic to be racing with one of the best and most successful teams in the sport!
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
#10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 Acura DPi: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Alexander Rossi, Helio Castroneves
“I’m already counting down the days and I’m looking forward to working with the team and my new team-mates. It is extra special for me to be racing with Acura, HPD and HRC which I know very well from racing my entire IndyCar career with them. Bring on 2024!”
WTR won the 24 hours for the first time in 2017 with Jordan and Ricky Taylor as part of the driving lineup, alongside team stalwart Max Angelleli and NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon.
Their Cadillac DPi-V.R also triumphed in 2019, when Fernando Alonso, Renger van der Zande and Kamui Kobayashi joined Jordan Taylor, and again in 2020 as van der Zande and Kobayashi teamed up with Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon.
Following the switch to Acura machinery for 2021, Ricky Taylor rejoined WTR from Team Penske and took the squad’s fourth win alongside Filipe Albuquerque, Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi.
There will be three days of testing prior to the IMSA season opener on 27-28 January, with the Roar Before the 24 falling on the 19-21 January.
WTR Andretti team principal Wayne Taylor, who won the 24 hours in 1996 and 2005, hailed Ericsson as “absolutely the perfect guy for our team because of the way he goes about racing” and revealed that he had “shown loads of interest by meeting with the team already”.
Taylor added that he had been in discussions with Button “for quite a few years” but had previously “never been able to make it happen”.
“He drove for JDC at Petit Le Mans and the relationship that he’s built with Jordan from the Garage 56 programme closes the loop on our driver lineups,” he said.
“He obviously is coming from a different background, but we’ve had Formula 1 drivers before, and they’ve all done really well.
“I have no question about his ability to do well for us and for himself. I’m really excited after three years to finally get Jenson to sign up with us.”
WTR Andretti will also expand into the GTD ranks by running a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 for its Super Trofeo North America championship-winning pair Danny Formal and Kyle Marcelli.