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Kovalainen, who drove for Renault, McLaren, Caterham and Lotus, won the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix for McLaren and earned three more podium finishes in an F1 career that tallied 111 starts between 2007 and 2013.
He subsequently switched to racing in Japan and won the Super GT title at the second attempt in 2016, a feat managed by Button two years later.
The 2004 Race of Champions winner called time on his Super GT exploits at the end of 2021 and focused on rallying last season, scooping the Japanese rally championship and finishing tenth overall in a Skoda Fabia R5 WRC2 car on the World Rally Championship’s return to the country in November.
The Finn now links up with Button, his replacement at McLaren for 2010, to join the XE field for its third season of competition which begi …