Button eyes more GT3 after British GT debut

He may have endured a lower-key outing than he’d have liked, but Jenson Button is keen to give GT3 racing another shot after his difficult debut in the British GT Championship at Silverstone.

Button shared a McLaren 720S GT3 with old friend Chris Buncombe for British GT’s showpiece three-hour Silverstone 500 event on November 8/9. Running the car under the Jenson Team Rocket RJN banner which the pair co-founded, it marked Button’s first appearance in a British championship since his Formula 3 days in 1999.

Without much testing before the weekend, the pair endured a difficult start with the car, which suffered unstable handling that was later traced to damper issues. They qualified a lowly 17th but, with the dampers changed for Sunday’s race, they did climb to 14th, with Button’s best lap being just under two seconds off the ultimate pace.

While it may not have been the debut many had hoped for, Button told Motor Sport that it hadn’t dimmed his desire to try more GT3 racing. “It was a tough weekend but we still both really enjoyed it. It was hard because the car just didn’t work the way we wanted it to. Once the damper thing was solved we developed a gearbox issue. But I did really enjoy the whole experience, and learned a lot. It was just difficult playing catch-up from the start and this is a tough championship to just jump in to. Even a karting championship is tough to just jump in to and be at the front as you don’t have the regular experience. But I’d love to come back and have another go.”