Fernando Alonso with Toyota in WEC and Le Mans

There was little doubt that Fernando Alonso would be part of at least the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018, but confirmation of the presence of the double Spanish world champion at the start of the Le Mans classic came this Tuesday.

McLaren, in a press release indicated “to authorize Fernando Alonso to race the next rounds of the Super-Season of WEC, including the 24 2018 Hours of Le Mans, after reaching an agreement with Toyota Gazoo Racing. »

Concretely, the McLaren driver-Renault en F1 will align with all rounds of the year in the World ChampionshipEndurance, Le Mans included, except the 6 Hours of Fuji, on October 21, due to a conflict of dates with the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

« McLaren and Fernando fully agree that Formula 1 remains their top priority. » also mentions the press release.

“I have never hidden my goal of winning the Triple Crown in motorsport: the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indy 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, admits Alonso. We tried for the Indy 500 last year, it didn't go very far, but it didn't work.

This year, I have the chance, thanks to McLaren, to win at Le Mans. It's a big challenge – a lot can go wrong – but I'm ready and eager to fight.

My agreement to participate in the WEC was only made possible because of the good understanding and strong relationship I have with McLaren, and I am very happy that they listened and understood what this means to me.

In no case will this challenge deprive me of my main objective in Formula 1 with McLaren. In 2018, my goal is to be competitive at every grand prix, and I am sure we are very close to achieving that. »

McLaren will be able to count on the Renault engine in 2018, replacing the Honda turbo/hybrid V6, installed in the Woking single-seaters since 2015, unfortunately without the expected success for the British-Japanese tandem.

Support from McLaren

Fernando Alonso was able to try his hand at driving his future mount, the TS050 Hybrid, during the Rookie Tests in Bahrain last November, and took part in his first major 24-hour event last weekend at Daytona with the Ligier JS P217 LM P2 of United Autosports, Zak Brown's team, for a final 38th place, after brake problems.

The executive director of McLaren Technology Group obviously supports his driver. “It's no secret that Fernando wanted to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Brown says.

And I think everyone in our organization appreciates that a motivated, hungry and happy world-class driver like Fernando is a tremendous asset to any team in F1.

Last year we made the decision to race with Fernando at the Indy 500 rather than the Monaco Grand Prix. But we have always said that we will consider each opportunity on a case-by-case basis, and we both know that in 2018 our main priority is success in Formula 1.

Like Fernando, at McLaren we are racers, and our team is built on a heritage of competition and success in different forms of sport. Equally important is the fact that nothing undermines our number one goal in Formula 1.

After appropriate evaluation, we are confident that this campaign achieves this objective, and that McLaren's best interests prevail. »