QUICK LAPSTHE FASTEST NEWS ROUND-UP

Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso drove each other’s cars last week in Bahrain during the ‘JJXALO’ car swap. Alonso also got a brief run in the 2013 Mercedes-powered MP4-28 before handing it over to Johnson, as Alonso switched to the 2018 road course

NASCAR Chevrolet… Toyota is preparing to race on in the World Endurance Championship in the 2019/20 season that starts next September. The Japanese manufacturer has yet to officially confirm that it will compete in the first season of the WEC run to the ‘winter-series’ format, but the Toyota Motorsport Gmbh squad in Cologne is readying itself for another assault with the TS050 HYBRID in expectation of an imminent decision… The entry list for next year’s Le Mans 24 Hours will be revealed in two stages. The first 50 cars on the 60-strong entry for the 87th running of Le Mans on June 16/17 will be unveiled on February 11, with an additional 10 cars and a further 10 reserves announced on March 1… Ex-formula 1 driver Rubens Barrichello’s son Eduardo will race in the 2019 USF2000 Championship. The younger Barrichello, 17, will drive for Miller Vinatieri Motorsports in a two-car team alongside Jack William Miller, son of former Indycar driver Dr Jack Miller… Richard Philippe, the 2005 Formula BMW USA champion, was killed in a helicopter crash last month in the Dominican Republic. The 28-year-old Frenchman, who was the younger brother of Champ Car race winner Nelson Philippe, died along with their grandfather and three others including the pilot, a lieutenant colonel in the Dominican Air Force.