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.”

2005 and 2006 FIA Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso will participate in the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) rookie test in Bahrain on Sunday 19 November, Toyota Gazoo Racing can confirm.

The 36-year-old will drive a TS050 HYBRID during the one-day session, which occurs on the day after the Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain, the final race of the 2017 WEC season.

Fernando is very interested by Le Mans as well as endurance racing in general and he is keen to drive a state-of-the-art hybrid LMP1 car, extensively developed for the FIA WEC’s top category.

The Bahrain rookie test is the perfect opportunity for this and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing is honoured to run its 1,000hp TS050 HYBRID for Fernando for an activity which will positively enhance awareness of endurance racing.

To prepare for the test, Fernando visited the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing facility in Cologne, Germany on Tuesday 7 November for a seat fitting and simulator session.

He will be joined at the test in another TS050 HYBRID by up-and-coming French driver Thomas Laurent, 19, who has been rewarded for this impressive debut FIA WEC season in LMP2.

Hisatake Murata, Toyota Gazoo Racing Team President: “We are very excited that Fernando will test our car. When he visited us in Cologne everyone who met him could sense his enthusiasm and passion for our sport; he is a true racer."

"We very much respect his interest in different forms of motorsport and it is a pleasure to offer him this chance to drive a hybrid LMP1 car. It will be interesting to hear his feedback on the TS050 HYBRID.”

Timo Bernhard piloted Porsche to the top of the combined timesheet today in the official WEC Rookie Test held at Bahrain International Circuit.
 
The German ace, who this past season claimed an impressive double with manufacturers Porsche and fellow-drivers Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber, steered his no. 1 919 Hybrid to a fastest lap of one minute 40.244 seconds.
 
Bernhard registered his best time during the test’s morning session, when he completed nine laps around BIC’s 5.412-kilometre track.
 
Sebastien Buemi of Toyota Gazoo Racing followed in second place on the day’s overall classification. Also clocking his best in the morning, the Swiss had a fastest lap 1.939 seconds off the leader’s pace.
 
Buemi completed 10 laps of testing in his no. 8 TS050 Hybrid.
 
Pietro Fittipaldi, behind the wheel of Porsche’s other car, was classified third overall with a best lap of 1:42.275, which he clocked in the afternoon. Fittipaldi, who is the grandson of two-time Formula 1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi, earned the WEC test after claiming this season’s drivers’ title in the World Series Formula V8 3.5.
 
The Brazilian youngster completed 32 laps in his drive.
 
Rounding out the times amongst the LMP1 class participants were Mike Conway, Fernando Alonso and Thomas Laurent, all of whom were driving Toyotas. Conway finished 2.137s behind Bernhard and Alonso was 2.769s back, while Laurent was classified 3.029s off the leading pace.
 
Formula 1 superstar Alonso was a guest tester of Toyota. He was the busiest man of the day, logging in 113 laps of work in his Le Mans Prototype.
 
In the LMP2 class, Konstantin Tereshchenko of TDS Racing had the best time. He clocked a mark of 1:48.444 in the afternoon session behind the wheel of an Oreca 07-Gibon.
 
The LMGTE Pro category was led by Kevin Estre of Porsche GT Team. Driving a 911 RSR, Estre had a fastest lap of 1:57.663 in the afternoon session. Olivier Beretta of Clearwater Racing followed suit in the LMGTE Am class. He had a best time of 2:01.805 in his Ferrari 488 GTE.

The 6 Hours of Bahrain concluded with Toyota taking their fifth victory from the nine races in the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship. 

The no8 TS050 hybrid of Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima took the chequered flag over a lap ahead of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Drivers’ Champions Brendon Hartley, Earl Bamber and Timo Bernhard in the final race for the Porsche 919 Hybrid. 

The no2 919 finished 46 seconds ahead of their teammates, Andre Lotterer, Neel Jani and Nick Tandy in the no1 car.

While the world titles in the LMP1 category were decided in Shanghai, the 6 Hours of Bahrain saw a three way battle for the inaugural FIA World Endurance GT Drivers’ Championship between three crews driving for Ferrari, Porsche and Ford. 

The race was won by the no71 AF Corse Ferrari F488 of Davide Rigon and Sam Bird, but it was their teammates Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado in the no51 F488 who finished second to take the world title to add the the FIA World Endurance GT Manufacturers’ Championship that was won by Ferrari in China.

The most exciting battle of the final round of the 2017 FIA WEC was in the LMP2 category which was a straight fight between the no31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca-Gibson of Nico Prost, Bruno Senna and Julien Canal, and the no38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca-Gibson of Ho-Pin Tung, Oliver Jarvis and Thomas Laurent. 

When the chequered flag fell at the end of the 6 Hours of Bahrain, just 10 seconds separated the two protagonists, which decided the title in favour of the no31 Vaillante Rebellion crew after 72 hours of racing during the 2017 season.

Bruno Senna brought the car home despite struggling for the final hour of the race with a lack of power steering, which made it extremely difficult for the Brazilian to drive the car. 

Two final pitstops for Jarvis and Senna had everyone on the edge of their seats but Bruno Senna wrestled the car to the chequered flag and claimed both the drivers title for himself and Julien Canal, the French driver adding the 2017 title to the LMP2 crown he won in 2015 with G-Drive Racing.