50 BUTTON COMMITS TO WEC FOR 2024
Jenson Button clearly hasn’t sated his competitive instincts since quitting full-time F1 in 2016. Rallycross, NASCAR, British GT and Super GT have been on his radar but, for 2024, he is taking things a stage further.
The 43-year-old whetted his appetite for hypercar racing with an outing at Petit Le Mans at the end of last year at the wheel of a JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963. That gave him an insight, and now he has signed up for an entire campaign with the Team Jota Porsche squad in the World Endurance Championship in 2024.
He will be up against it with an influx of factory-backed hypercars from myriad manufacturers in 2024, but the prospect is still intriguing.
“I just love the roller coaster ride of an entire season’s racing,” he said when revealing the agreement last December. Let’s hope, for his sake, the ride isn’t too wild. MJ
49 BRIT GREENSMITH WINS ON WRC2 RETURN
Gus Greensmith’s decision to switch back to WRC2 – enforced or otherwise – paid off spectacularly when he won on his category return in Mexico in a fine sixth overall.
After choosing against funding a second campaign in an M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 or a partial programme in a privately-entered Toyota Yaris, Brit Greensmith joined Skoda-supported Toksport and alongside co-driver Jonas Andersson took an impressive victory first time out.
“From stage six the rally was under control,” said Greensmith. “When we needed to go faster we could gap everyone and after that it was about controlling it. We’ve not put a foot wrong, Jonas has done a great job, first rally with Skoda and Toksport so thank you to them. We didn’t have a lot of time to get used to this car, but it was the perfect way to start the year.” Greensmith finished second in the WRC2 title standings. GL
48 AUSTRALIAN GP RED-FLAG CHAOS
Everyone loves a race at Albert Park in Australia, but last year’s event will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
Firstly, Alex Albon shunted his Williams, which brought about an early race stoppage. It halted a heated battle at the front between Mercedes pairing Lewis Hamilton and George Russell and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. The Dutchman worked his way to the front on the restart, which only lasted until Kevin Magnussen shunted his Haas on lap 53. Another red flag flew.
While Verstappen was under pressure at the restart, contact at Turn 1 between Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin was the first drama and then Alpine pair Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly decided to drive into each other further around the track.
Prompt yet another stoppage…
The race eventually finished under a one-lap run behind the safety car as post-event penalties flew for late-race skirmishes – so even the order as they crossed the line was mixed up after the event. Confused yet…? MJ
47 SMITH DOUBLES UP IN THE FESTIVAL
Rory Smith in 2023 became only the fifth two-time winner of the Formula Ford Festival in history.
Since his inaugural triumph in the famous end-of-year event in 2020, Smith has more commonly been seen racing a Ralt RT4 in the Historic Sports Car Club’s Aurora Trophy. But he’s never lost his bug for Formula Ford end-of-year events, nor his habit of running at the sharp end of them. He continued that way driving his BM Racing Medina in the most recent Festival.
The final, as is often the case, was a thriller with several active victory contenders. Smith’s main rival though was fellow two-time Festival victor Niall Murray, and in his Team Dolan Van Diemen RF99 Murray exchanged first place with Smith for much of the final’s duration. But that battle was resolved late on when Murray’s car succumbed to a misfire.
Smith then placed his machine perfectly to resist the chasers and get a worthy second Festival win. It also was all a timely bounce back for the Festival after the previous year’s nonevent final. GK
46 TURNER BACK BEHIND THE WHEEL
Septuagenarian Forward Ford stalwart Colin Turner returned to competition in 2023, two-and-a-half years on from sustaining life-changing injuries, losing both legs in a major multi-car Walter Hayes Trophy accident in spray.
The popular former RAF pilot’s determination to get back racing, from an early stage of his recovery, was extraordinary. Turner became a common sight in Formula Ford paddocks, and in ’23 the Scot made the ultimate step of getting back behind the wheel in anger. He acquired a historic Merlyn Mk20 and competed in both British Racing and Sports Car Club and Historic Sports Car Club competition.
Then come the year’s end he returned to race in the Hayes three years on, sporting the #73 to mark his 73rd birthday at Silverstone’s showpiece event.
Despite a sub-optimum set-up for the conditions he enjoyed his Hayes experience, and his motivation for racing and for getting up the order remains undimmed. GK
45 CHILMAN WINS BRITISH HISTORIC RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
Heading into the final round of the British Historic Rally Championship, it was Ford versus Fiat as Roger Chillman in his Escort Mk2 went head-to-head with Nick Elliott in the Fiat 131.
