Alonso set to knock Rolex 24 sports car race off bucket list
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Fernando Alonso needed just three laps around Daytona International Speedway to recognize the magnitude of one of auto racing's iconic venues.
The Formula One star is entered in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, one of the most prestigious sports car races in the world, as the Spaniard attempts to cross another event off his bucket list. He skipped the Grand Prix of Monaco last year to race the Indianapolis 500, and his participation captured attention all around the world.
That Indy venture last May was his first time racing on an oval, his first time in an Indy car, and Alonso was dazzling until his engine blew late in the race. As he tested Friday for Rolex, held January 26-27, he soaked in his newest venture.
"You feel, you smell motor racing here," Alonso said. "That's a good feeling for any driver. The speedway is amazing. The size is huge. I did only three laps this morning, yet enough to have a feeling in the car and on the speedway as well.
"The high banking was special. You feel the compression in the body, you feel the visibility change... it was good fun. The best feeling."
Alonso was a surprise entry at Indy last year when McLaren boss Zak Brown gave him the greenlight to skip Monaco and knock "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" off a list Alonso considers "iconic events." Now he's got permission to run the twiceround-the-clock race at Daytona – he's driving a Ligier LMP2 in the Prototype class for United Autosports – and he hopes the same AloMania that swept Indy will follow him to this sports car event.