When one Fernando Alonso rumor ends, another begins.
McLaren executive director Zak Brown told reporters at Circuit of the Americas on Thursday that he has talked to Alonso about the Spaniard potentially entering the Rolex 24 at Daytona as preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, according to Motorsport.com. United Autosports, which Brown owns, already has a spot in the 24-hour race.
Brown’s comment came just hours after McLaren confirmed that Alonso had re-signed with the team for 2018. The topic reportedly has only came up in passing, but as Brown noted, it was an offhand comment that ultimately led to Alonso’s 2017 Indianapolis 500 bid.
“If Fernando wants to do Daytona and we have a seat available, we will put his name on it happily,” Brown said. “We’ve started joking around about it, and we saw where jokes got us last time.
“We have been focused on F1 and I think now that we have that done, we will have conversations with Fernando about any other racing activities.”
Alonso, already a Monaco Grand Prix winner, has made it clear that he’s committed to becoming the next triple crown winner. His maiden Indy 500 — apart from the way it ended — went well, even though he had just a month to prepare.
“There was no testing with any similar race before Indy 500, or for me any other oval race before the Indy 500. So it was a big challenge,” Alonso said. “I was competitive and I felt good, but if I want to prepare for Le Mans …Â maybe there are other possibilities to prepare Le Mans a little bit better than I prepared for the Indy 500.”
Although the 36-year-old has a standing invitation to race at Daytona International Speedway with United, he likely won’t pursue that unless he intends to compete at Le Mans in 2018 as well.
Thumbnail photo via Honda Racing
