The three SUPER GT manufacturers invited to compete in the DTM Series season finale at Hockenheim have announced their driver lineups, with Honda choosing 2009 Formula 1 champion Jenson Button.
While Button will be the sole driver for Honda on the weekend of October 4-6, Lexus and Nissan have opted to send two drivers – one for each race.
The event is a taster for the non-championship SUPER GT x DTM Dream Race taking place at the Fuji Speedway in November, reportedly featuring around 10 cars from each series.
Button announced his participation on social media last Saturday, saying that he is excited to join a “fiercely competitive championship”.
The 39-year-old posted on Instagram: “During my career as a driver I’ve always been an avid admirer of so many different forms of motorsport and the plan post F1 has always been to seek out new opportunities and challenges across these various categories.”
He will be driving the #1 Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX-GT, the car in which he won the 2018 championship alongside team-mate Naoki Yamamoto.
2017 championship victors Ryo Hirakawa and New Zealander Nick Cassidy will be driving the TOM‘s Lexus LC 500, sporting #37.
Hirakawa and Cassidy are currently second in the GT500 standings, 10 points adrift of Team LeMans Lexus duo Kazuya Oshima and Kenta Yamashita with two rounds remaining.
The NISMO-backed Nissan GT-R will be driven by Tsugio Matsuda and Italian Ronnie Quintarelli, the pair facing their first winless SUPER GT campaign together.
The 2014 and ’15 champions have been forced to change from their customary #23 for the crossover weekend to #35, as the former belongs to R-Motorsport/Aston Martin‘s Daniel Juncadella – who trialled for Nissan with the idea of a possible move to SUPER GT after Mercedes ended its DTM programme at the end of ’18.
