Davidson, who started 24 Grand Prix for Minardi, BAR Honda and Super Aguri, announced this on Twitter the day after finishing third in LMP2 with the Jota team in the first leg of the Bahrain double-headed ball that concludes the 2021 WEC.
“To go one more thing … what I have decided will also be my last race as a professional racing driver,” wrote the 2014 WEC title winner.
“It was an unbelievable and unforgettable journey and I would like to thank everyone involved on this path.”
Davidson, 42, has been driving the WEC P2 class since 2018 after being removed from Toyota’s LMP1 roster at the end of last season.
He was replaced by Fernando Alonso in the # 8 Toyota alongside 2014 co-champions Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima for the 2017/18 WEC.
Davidson remained as a reserve driver for the first two races, the 6 Hours of Spa and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and then took a P2 place on the DragonSpeed team, which was shared with Pastor Maldonado and Roberto Gonzalez.
For the 2018/19 season he switched to the British Jota squad with Gonzalez.
Davidson announced to Autosport last summer that after signing a new deal with Toyota for 2017, he was considering retiring at the end of the 2019 season when he turned 40.
“When I signed this contract, I saw it as three more years of trying to win Le Mans with Toyota,” he said.
“I definitely toyed with the idea of just quitting at that point.”
He revealed that stepping down into a less competitive environment on P2 had rekindled his love for racing.
“Driving with Roberto as a gentleman driver is a lot more fun than driving for a manufacturer with all the pressure that comes with it,” he explained.
“In a way, I had to fall in love with racing again because I had completely lost my love for it at Toyota.”
Davidson started karting at the age of eight and moved up to Formula Ford in 1999. The following year it won the prestigious Festival of the category at Brands Hatch.
He was picked up as a test driver by the British American Racing Team for 2001, the same year he finished runner-up in the British F3 and stayed on his books until 2007 when he got his first full-time F1 seat on the Super Aguri Honda B. -Team.
Davidson experienced his first sports car drive in 2003 when he drove a Ferrari 550 Maranello GTS built and operated by Prodrive as part of an event program around the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In 2010, he switched full-time to sports cars at Peugeot after making a second Le Mans start on board a Lola LMP1 car with an Aston Martin engine the previous year.
The victory in the debut at the Sebring 12 Hours on board a 908 HDi from the French manufacturer was followed later in the year by another home win at Silverstone and another four wins in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup with the second 908 generation the following season.
Out of a total of 10 overall wins in the WEC with Toyota, which he won in 2012 after Peugeot’s late decision not to enter the series, three followed P2.
Davidson also plays an important role in Sky Sports’ F1 coverage and is one of the leading simulator drivers on the Mercedes F1 team.
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