WEC bosses have agreed to move forward the date of this year’s Fuji 6 Hours and enable Fernando Alonso to compete in every race in the ‘superseason’ over the next two years.
Of the five events to take place in 2018, the race in Japan was the only round which clashed with a Formula 1 Grand Prix, with the Spaniard’s duties with McLaren taking prevalence, and would have meant missing the home race of Toyota, with whom Alonso is racing.
Now that is no longer the case, however, with the event at Fuji Speedway taking place on October 14 as opposed to 21, but will likely draw the ire of many WEC drivers who had committed to the Petit Le Mans at Road America that weekend.
As it is, the buzz the double F1 champion’s additional racing activities has created is too much for the series to ignore though McLaren executive director Zak Brown insists driving will be all Fernando does.
“As far as commercial appearances, sponsor commitments, things of that nature, it is very minimised,” he said in Woking this week.
“His relationship with Toyota – he is on loan from us. We came to an arrangement with Toyota and that is to allow him to race the car but not to travel the globe having commercial commitments.
“He is a McLaren driver first and foremost, and an F1 driver. When you think of Fernando, you think of him as a McLaren F1 driver first and foremost.”
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A former teammate, Nelson Piquet Jr, has praised the 36-year-old’s passion to expand well beyond just F1.
“Alonso has a strong character and he wants everything, he does not know how to share,” the first Formula E champion told Spain’s Marca newspaper. “Sometimes a great driver has to be like that and he is a great driver.
“Over 10 years ago he was champion but he is still one of the biggest stars of F1. I respect his willingness to race at Indianapolis, Daytona and Le Mans, which he does not for fame but because he likes to compete.”
