Toyota confirms Alonso for Bahrain Rookie Test

As we announced to you exclusively in issue 2140 of AUTOhebdo, Fernando Alonso will participate this Sunday in the Rookie Test of WEC organized on the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain, the day after the finale of the 2017 season which saw the No. 050 TS8 Hybrid Buemi-Davidson-Nakajima s’imposer face à Porsche.

Toyota confirm that “Fernando is very interested in Le Mans and by endurance races in general » and that the double world champion of F1 went to the Cologne factory (Germany) on Tuesday, November 7, to mold its seat and do its first tests on a simulator. The Asturian will share the wheel of the TS050 Hybrid with Thomas Laurent, the driver of the No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing car which narrowly missed out on the category title against the No. 31 Vaillante Rebellion.

“We are very excited that Fernando will test our car, comments Hisatake Murata, president of Toyota Gazoo Racing. When he went to Cologne, everyone could see his enthusiasm and passion for the discipline. He's a real competitor. We very much respect his interest in different motorsport formulas and it is a pleasure to offer him the chance to drive a hybrid LMP1. His feedback from the TS050 Hybrid will be interesting. »

According to our information, Fernando Alonso is preparing a program to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans next year with Toyota. The Spaniard, who is aiming for the Triple Crown (victory at the Monaco GP, the Indy 500 and Le Mans), will be at the start of the 24 Hours of Daytona (Florida) on one of the two Ligier JS P217s fielded by United Autosports where he will compete alongside Lando Norris and Phil Hanson.