Fernando Alonso, United Autosports, Daytona, 2018

Pictures: Alonso begins testing at Daytona

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Fernando Alonso has begun preparations for his debut in the upcoming Daytona 24 Hours by taking part in the ‘Roar before the 24’ test at the Florida circuit today.

All Daytona 24 Hours competitors must take part in the three-day test. Alonso is sharing his United Autosports-run Ligier LMP2 with Lando Norris and Phil Hanson.

The two-times world champion is not the only current F1 racer taking part in the event. Paul di Resta, who drove in last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix, will drive another of United Autosports’ Ligiers.

Di Resta’s team mate Lance Stroll will race an LMP2 ORECA which he is sharing with Felix Rosenqvist, Daniel Juncadella and Robin Frijns.

Other notable names participating in the test include former F1 drivers Juan Pablo Montoya (Acura), Felipe Nasr (Cadillac), Bruno Senna (Ligier), Christian Fittipaldi (Cadillac), Jan Magnussen (Chevrolet Corvette), Sebastien Bourdais (Ford GT), Pedro Lamy (Ferrari 488) and Markus Winkelhock (Audi R8).

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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11 comments on “Pictures: Alonso begins testing at Daytona”

  1. Typo -says Daytona 500 on the picture captions !

    1. Thanks, fixed it.

  2. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    6th January 2018, 6:18

    You wouldn’t know it, but Alonso is sponsored by Kimoa.

  3. I’m sorry Keith but why is this newsworthy? An F1 driver is doing another event, and all of autosport twitter is uploading pics, posting times, and for what? Why does Alonso hold such a mythical power over F1 followers? This sort of thing only enhances his status.

    1. It’s news worthy, because we care. How’s that for ya?
      And we care, because Alonso is a double time Formula 1 World Champion, who in his prime was fighting and beating the legendary Michael Schumacher. Duh? Also, an F1 champion competing in a different racing series is a unique opportunity for all kinds of interesting motorsport considerations.

      “This sort of thing only enhances his status.”
      Hahha, you talk as if he was some sort of a criminal who should be denied media exposure. Please stop, just stop, mate, ok?

      1. @damon I was going to suggest the mythical power comes from the Samurai, but let’s go with yours.

    2. @hahostolze
      It’s off-season. There isn’t usually so much fuss about Daytona (although it’s usually mentioned, being the first big race of the year), but this year there’s a top current F1 driver there, so it deserves some coverage on an F1 site.

      I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m certainly interested. It’s not like there’s a surplus of F1 news to keep us occupied ;)

    3. Oh dear @hahostolze way to show an early season bias. It is not so much ‘news’ as information. F1 Fanatic is an Information platform and a darned good one at that. It would have been remarkable if Keith hadn’t have mentioned it! Can you imagine? Besides which, I think people are genuinely interested in how F1 drivers fare in a different discipline. Notice how other drivers associated with F1 mentioned in the article also had their status enhanced..👍 Anyway, Happy New Year fellow F1 Fanatic!

    4. @hahostolze As an F1 fanatic looking at F1fanatic.co.uk this is exactly the sort of thing I want to see! A double F1 champ and current F1 driver competing in a top racing series!
      ….or perhaps you’re more interested in what Lewis and his pugs are up to!

      More of the same please @keithcollantine

  4. Initially, I was a bit puzzled on why they’re wearing that much clothing in Florida, but after having checked the temperatures for Daytona, I realized why. I hadn’t realized that even some parts of FL could get unusually cold for that part of the US.

  5. I feel like captioning. Let me do the 1 on the middle bottom:

    Fernando: What is my ex-wife doing here? CALL SECURITY!!!

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