Button felt joining Le Mans NASCAR entry was "mistake", now "loves" it

Button is part of Hendrick Motorsports' all-star line-up for the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 innovative car for this year's 24 Hours, alongside seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller.

Both Button and the Hendrick team believe the qualifying pace of the car, when it was four seconds faster than the leading GTE Am cars, exceeded expectations - although they do expect the race to be a tougher challenge.

However, 2009 F1 title winner Button says his first experience of the Chevrolet left him wondering if it was the right decision to sign up.

"It's funny because the first time I drove this car was at Daytona and, for the first five laps, I thought it was the biggest mistake of my life signing up to this!" he said.

"But you slowly get used to it. You get used to the weight, you get used to the size. But I hadn't also driven for two-and-a-half years, which is quite a long time for a racing driver. So it took a while to get used to it, but I absolutely love it.

"It's such a fun car to drive once you get used to the weight.

"In most racing cars, you hit the brake pedal and then you modulate off of it. But, on this, you hit the brake pedal and you stay on the brake pedal all the way to the corner. 

"In the Porsche Curves, you go from the first part to the second part and you see the body roll through there and also you see how aggressive we are. Through the corners there's oversteer, and it's a really fun car."

#24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 of Jenson Button

Photo by: Eric Le Galliot

Rockenfeller echoed Button's sentiments and says the ZL1 does not compare to anything else he's previously driven.

"It's a quick car, you have to muscle it around the track," he told Autosport. "It's heavy but it's so cool and fun.

"If you watch an onboard, we're fighting the car when the others are flooring. We're always having fun, drifting."

The interest generated by the project has led to Chevrolet creating a special version of the ZL1 road car that will be named the Garage 56 Edition and is due to go on sale next year.

The car will be limited to just 56 examples and its colour will match the livery of the racer.