Two-time Formula One world champ and one-time (and hopefully more-times) Indianapolis 500 participant Fernando Alonso really wants to keep going with his quest to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport. One report suggests that he may try his hand at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Toyota’s LMP1 team.
Alonso was spotted at Toyota Motorsport GmbH’s headquarters in Cologne, Germany, going for a seat fitting, according to an unnamed source who relayed the information to Daily Sportscar. Seats in top-level race cars are typically custom-fit to a driver’s butt, and a seat fitting would imply there’s some testing or a potential seat coming up.
Daily Sportscar’s report also notes that “the door is open” if Alonso wants to run with the Toyota Le Mans prototype team.
Normally, I don’t get too excited over reports because we don’t know this anonymous Alonso-spotter. However, this one combines two things I’d really like to see happen: Alonso running at Le Mans, and Toyota’s top-class prototype team sticking around in the World Endurance Championship. If it’s not real, can we make it happen anyway? Thanks in advance.
Watching someone of Alonso’s talent break down in both Formula One and Indianapolis 500 cars this year was painful. We’d all like to see him in a car that can compete for wins again. Toyota may have had tough luck with breakdowns at Le Mans the past couple of years, but as the only manufacturer hybrid LMP1 team potentially staying in the WEC next year, they’re a solid contender for Alonso’s coveted overall 24 Hours of Le Mans win.
Alonso is already planning on doing the 24 Hours of Daytona next year as a warm-up for the big Le Mans show. Sure, his full-time day job (if such a thing exists for these drivers) is Formula One, but F1 doesn’t conflict with Le Mans next year.
A Toyota LMP1 team representative told Jalopnik, “We have no comment to make on this speculation.”
But we want to believe!