The 2009 Formula 1 World Champion, whose father John had excelled in this series, has dabbled in off-road racing from his retirement from F1 to the conclusion of the 2016 season.
He participated in the Baja 1000 in 2019, and raced for his own JBXE team in the first round of the Extreme E last year in Saudi Arabia.
The 42-year-old, who remains active in F1 as a Williams team consultant and columnist for Sky Sports, has signed on to drive the new Nitro series electric-powered FC1-X alongside Oliver Bennett.
“I want to go racing,” said Button, who recently tested Bennett’s Ford Fiesta Supercar and the Mini Cooper that raced in last year’s Nitro RX series at Pembrey.
“I love racing, I love to compete and I want to have fun.
“I am looking forward to racing Nitro RX with Xite Energy – a team that has a lot of experience not only in rallycross, but also in electric racing.
“And I will be able to compete alongside my friend Oli. He is a great character for the sport and has a lot of experience in dirt events.”
“We hope that I can learn this side from him and that he can learn from my driving on the circuit.”
“It will be a fun collaboration, but I think it will also be good and we hope to be among the greats of rallycross.”
Jenson Button, Xite Energy Racing during the Pembrey test
Photo by: Xite Racing
The Nitro RX started last year with five races, all in the United States, with internal combustion engine cars.
The series will expand to 10 races – including three in Europe – for the 2022-23 season, with the first round at Lydden Hill on June 18-19. After the trips to Sweden and Finland, it will conclude with seven other events in the United States, with the season finale scheduled for next March.
The 800kW FC1-X machine, developed by Olsbergs MSE and QEV Technologies, made its Race of Champions debut in February and will race in its own class rather than against Supercars.
Button explained that he was looking forward to continuing his “family connection with rallycross” and said he would like to “emulate” what his father has done in the discipline.
“That would be pretty special. Some of the jumps I’m going to go on are extremely big and a little scary, but that’s why it’s exciting for me, because it’s a new challenge.”
“Rallycross is different from Formula 1 and that’s why I like it. I left F1 after 17 years because I wanted to try something new.”
“I’m always in favor of new challenges. I’m a racing driver, not a Formula 1 driver, so new challenges are what interests me.”
“I felt I had achieved what I needed in Formula 1, so it’s nice to try different things.”
Bennett added that the pair have already “learned quite a bit from each other” and pointed out that Button has learned “really fast”.
Jenson Button and Oliver Bennett, Xite Energy Racing during the Pembrey test
Photo by: Xite Racing
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