Fernando has been conditionally authorized to race for Toyota at World Endurance Championship by McLaren. The two times world champion will be racing at Le Mans 24 Hours in 2018 and 2019, while prioritizing McLaren over Toyota.
Alonso, 36-year-old, will continue his commitments of Formula 1 with McLaren. The schedule of WEC and F1 clashes in October, for which he will be racing at US GP rather than Fuji, as it remained “their shared top priority”.
The Spaniard is ambitious about acing ‘triple crown’, which has only been achieved by Graham Hill. He had won twice, Le Mans and the Indianapolis 500, and now he is hoping for the third crown.
Alonso said: “We tried for Indy last year, came close, but just missed out. This year, I have the chance, thanks to McLaren, to race for the win at Le Mans.
“It is a big challenge – much can go wrong – but I am ready, prepared and looking forward to the fight.”
Alonso is fully committed with Toyota to win the title for 2018-2019, only if the race doesn’t fall at a crossroads with F1.
WEC schedule overlaps F1 race at US GP with Japanese WEC, in 2018. The schedule for 2019 F1 will be released later this year, which is highly unlikely to overlap.
“My deal to race in WEC was only made possible through the good understanding and strong relationship I have with McLaren, and I’m very happy that they listened and understood what this means to me,” Alonso added.
“In no way will this challenge take away from my main target of Formula 1 with McLaren.
“In 2018, my aim is to be competitive at every grand prix, and I feel sure that we are closer to achieving that.”
Zak Brown, McLaren executive director, said: “It’s no secret that Fernando has wanted to contest the Le Mans 24 Hours. I think everybody within our organisation appreciates that a motivated, hungry and happy world-class driver such as Fernando is a formidable asset for any team in F1.”
He added, “Our core priority is success in Formula 1.
“Like Fernando, at McLaren we’re racers at heart, and our team is built on a brave heritage of competing and succeeding in different forms of the sport.
“After proper evaluation, we are satisfied that this campaign does not do that, and that McLaren’s best interests prevail.”
