Alonso in Indy 500, seeking triple crown

SAO PAULO: McLaren and twotime Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso will enter next year’s Indianapolis

500, the team announced yesterday.

It will be the second time the Spaniard has taken part in the race, which he led in 2017 before retiring with an engine problem.

The 37yearold, who is also competing for Toyota in the World Endurance Championship, is leaving Formula One at the end of this season and the May 26 date in Indianapolis will not clash with any commitments.

Alonso is a double Monaco Grand Prix winner and won the Le Mans 24 Hours this year, leaving only Indianapolis between him and becoming the second driver to achieve the ‘‘triple crown of motorsport’’.

The late Briton Graham Hill, also a twotime Formula One champion and who died in 1975, is the only one to have done it, completing the triple in 1972.

‘‘I’ve made clear for some time my desire to achieve the Triple Crown. I had an incredible experience at Indianapolis in 2017 and I knew in my heart of hearts I had to go back if the opportunity was there,’’ Alonso said in a statement at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

‘‘I’m especially glad to be returning with McLaren. This was always my first choice if the team decided to do it, so I’m delighted they’ve decided to go ahead.

‘‘It’s a tough race and we’ll be up against the best, so it will be a huge challenge. But we’re racers and that’s why we race.’’

Alonso missed the Monaco Grand Prix last year to compete at Indianapolis, no great loss for him given McLaren’s then woes with an uncompetitive Formula One car and unreliable Honda engine.

Former F1 champion McLaren is a threetime Indy 500 winner — in 1972 providing a car for Mark Donohue as a private entry and in 1974 and 1976 as a works entry with Johnny Rutherford.

It will compete at The

Brickyard next year as McLaren Racing.

Pietro Fittipaldi, the 22yearold grandson of Brazil’s twotime Formula One world champion Emerson, will be official test driver for Haas next year, the USowned team said on Saturday.

The Miamiborn Brazilian will also take part in a Pirelli tyre test in Abu Dhabi on November 27.

Team principal Guenther Steiner said Fittipaldi, whose grandfather is also a twotime Indianapolis 500 winner, would bring ‘‘a championshipwinning pedigree’’ from his junior openwheel career and IndyCar.

Fittipaldi made six starts for Dale Coyne Racing in the US IndyCar series this year, five after returning from a broken leg suffered during a World Endurance Championship race at Spa in Belgium last May.

Emerson Fittipaldi won his titles with Lotus and McLaren in 1972 and 1974 respectively. — Reuters

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