Fernando Alonso hailed a “great day” after completing 113 laps on his first day behind the wheel of a Toyota LMP1 WEC car in the ‘rookie’ test in Bahrain on Sunday.
The Spaniard’s participation marked a first clear step towards a potential entry in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2018 with the Japanese carmaker, who will be the only major manufacturer left in the lead category after Porsche ended their presence following Saturday’s WEC season finale, the 6 Hours of Bahrain.
The double Formula 1 world champion will get his first experience of a 24-hour race when he joins United Autosport, with whom his McLaren Executive Director Zak Brown also has ties, for the Rolex Daytona 24 in January.
But that will likely be a precursor to the iconic day-long race at Le Mans which Alonso hopes to add to his Monaco Grand Prix win and complete two-thirds of motorsport’s Triple Crown, leaving just the Indianapolis 500 which he raced at and would ultimately retire from earlier this year.
“It was a great day,” the 36-year-old would say of his first test in a statement on Sunday. “Testing an LMP1 car is always a nice thing for any racing driver because these cars are amazing to drive.
“They are very consistent throughout a stint which is a positive thing. I have wanted to test a car like this for a long time now and today I could achieve that so I am happy.”
His best single-lap time of 1:43.013s around the Sakhir Circuit would be almost seven-tenths off the best of regular Toyota driver Mike Conway but the team’s Technical Director Pascal Vasselon would be impressed by the performance of Alonso, insisting lap times were far from the focus.
“A very good job, very disciplined. No spins, no off-track, no damage on the car, which is the first target we give when they jump into a TS050,” he said.
“So all in all, good. We’ve done obviously a bit more work with Fernando. After getting familiar with the car he went this afternoon to do some tyre testing, complementing what Mike was doing on the other car. I think Fernando has achieved more than 100 laps, so more than during a Formula 1 weekend. All good.
“We did not do any low-fuel runs, we did not do any qualifying runs. There was no trophy to win. We’ve done a full tank all day long and working as much as we could,” he added. “I think he enjoyed it but you have to ask him! I’m sure he has enjoyed it. He spent a lot of time already with the engineers. He’s very keen to understand our systems.”