April 21, 2022 9.00 am This story is over 23 months old

Ex-Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button joins Lincolnshire racing team

Driving fast off-road electric vehicles

Co-Founder and CMO of myenergi, Jordan Brompton with Jenson Button and Oliver Bennet, XITE Energy Nitro RX Team. | Photo: myenergi

Stallingborough-based myenergi has welcomed ex-Formula 1 world champion Jenson Button to its XITE Energy Racing team as he prepares to drive an off-road electric vehicle in this year’s Nitro RX season.

XITE Energy was founded by Oliver Bennett and Megan Jones straight out of university and the British outfit will compete in Group E (electric) in the American rallycross racing series.

Jenson Button is a big name in the world of racing, with the 42-year-old winning the 2009 Formula One World Championship during his time with the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career he was once again a champion, this time of the 2018 season of the Super GT Series.

Debuting at Lydden Hill in June, the Nitro RX series will bring together the fastest off-road electric vehicles ‘with the wildest tracks in Rallycross to create a revolutionary new racing format’.

Button will partner team owner and driver Oli and the pair will take to the track in a brace of myenergi-branded FC1-X all-electric race cars, capable of hitting 0-60mph in just 1.4 seconds.

The XITE Energy Racing powered by myenergi team will begin their test programme with the FC1-X in the near future.

Jenson said: “I want to go racing. I love racing, I love competing and I want to have fun. I’m looking forward to racing Nitro RX with XITE Energy – a team which has great experience of not just rallycross but also racing electric vehicles.

“Rallycross is night and day different to Formula 1 and that’s why I love it. I left F1 after 17 years because I wanted to try something new.

“I’m all about new challenges. I’m a racing driver, not a Formula 1 driver, so new challenges are what I’m all about. I felt I achieved what I needed to in Formula 1 so it’s nice to try different things.”

Team owner and driver Oli added: “We’re a British team taking on the world. There’s no bigger or better driver to represent the team and what the team stands for than Jenson. We’re hugely excited about what’s to come.

“As well as the circuit experience he brings, one of the things you notice immediately is the level of professionalism. You don’t become a Formula 1 World Champion without knowing how to get the best out of the car, the engineers, the team and everybody around you. I feel, as an organisation, we’ve already benefitted hugely from having him with us.”