Jenson Button will be Honda’s invited Super GT driver in the season finale of the DTM at the Hockenheimring next month, whilst Lexus will field Nicky Cassidy and Ryo Hirakawa and Nissan will run Ronnie Quintarelli and Tsugio Matsuda.
Button, who lifted the 2018 Japanese Super GT title with Naoki Yamamoto, revealed on his Instagram account that he would take part in the season finale of the DTM.
“During my career as a driver I’ve always been an avid admirer of so many different forms of top level motorsport,” wrote Button.
“The plan post F1 has always been to seek out new opportunities and challenges across those various categories.
“I’m delighted to say I’ve been given another such opportunity by Honda, GTA & DTM as I will be taking part in the last two rounds of the DTM championship at Hockenheim in my Team Kunimitsu Honda NSX.
“Nissan and Lexus from Super GT will also be entering a car each which will make an already fiercely competitive championship even more so and I can’t wait to experience it first-hand.”
Honda will enter Button for the entire event, but Lexus and Nissan have opted to enter two drivers each for the event, with the drivers then sharing the duties during the weekend as is typical in Super GT.
Lexus will enter 2017 champions, New Zealander Cassidy and his team-mate Hirakawa. The duo are currently second overall in the 2019 standings.
Nissan will field Italian Quintarelli and the hugely experienced Matsuda, who are currently fifth in the 2019 drivers’ standings. Matsuda has competed in the top level of Japanese GT racing since 2000 and has scored the most outright victories.
The Super GT invitation to the DTM finale is a precursor to the highly anticipated joint Super GT and DTM race, which will be held at the Fuji Speedway in Japan on November 23 – 24, featuring six to ten DTM cars racing against the Super GT field.