Alonso to compete in WEC this year!

[wolfticket]

Alonso sure has some clout in motorsport:

Some WEC drivers understandably peeved that this now creates a clash with the Petit Le Mans IMSA finale they planed to race in.

[Blake]

I can understand why they would be upset, as would be the Petit LeMans organizers... and the fans. As much as I love seeing Nando do this multiple racing disciplines racing, I can't say that I approve of the schedule altering to fit his timeline.

[Lotus49]

Toyota wanting to maximise this hook up with a big name driver is understandable of course but yeah it sucks for those wanting to drive in the PLM.

I doubt Toyota could resist the temptation of having Alonso winning in Japan. It would cause a bit of a media storm because of his Honda history and is worth it's weight in gold in exposure and getting one over their biggest rival.

Too big to resist really.

[Lotus49]

Another Alonso-Toyota story..https://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/vid ... 03333/?s=1

"The car is just amazing, this machine is something very special,” said Alonso. “I think the four-wheel drive, together with the boost of the hybrid system makes the acceleration like a rocket ship".

"You go out of the corners and you feel the compression of the seat and your eyes are very wide open. Any racing driver should feel that, one time".

[Herb]

And now Button joins WEC too....

https://www.motorsport.com/wec/news/but ... n-1030558/

[Lotus49]

First round is this weekend. It's on Motorsport TV on Saturday for UK viewers. As expected the Toyota's look quickest by a good margin. Alonso (#8) topped FP1. Conway (#7) topped FP2.

Onboard of Alonso's lap..

[Lotus49]

Qualified 2nd by 0.3ths but the #7 got disqualified so #8 started on pole. #7 went a lap down because of starting at the back but a few SC's later Alonso is in the #8 for the last hour with the #7 not far behind so he'll have to fight Conway for the win when the SC comes in.

On Motorsport TV (chn. 429) or Eurosport2 (chn. 411) in the UK if you want to watch the last hour.

[Lotus49]

Conway was the driver along with Norris who lit up Daytona in the wet a few months ago so this could be good.

[Lotus49]

Looks like Conway could be getting a drive through for overtaking under the SC.

I jinxed the poor lad.

[Lotus49]

No word on the penalty although it looked a slam dunk but Conway looks much faster and has closed two 7s gaps pretty quickly. 15 minutes to go to see if Alonso was right about winning this year...

[Lotus49]

Gearbox issue for Alonso, told to short shift. Looks like the Toyota's have been told to hold station and bring them home as the pace has dropped.

[Lotus49]

Alonso wins on debut!. Good job for everyone in the #8 Toyota

Toyota 1-2 and they look dominant as predicted. Rebellion looked good though.

#7 Toyota both lucky and unlucky. They looked quicker and were unlucky to lose pole and go a lap down but got away with that slam dunk penalty (according to commentators anyway).

[Flash2k11]

Knowing Alonso's luck, he will win the lot till Le Mans rolls round then get hammered with the most unimaginable bad luck possible. Glad he's doing well though, and it reflects well on F1 that the 'star drivers' can walk into other disciplines and still perform.

[Lotus49]

Knowing Alonso's luck, he will win the lot till Le Mans rolls round then get hammered with the most unimaginable bad luck possible. Glad he's doing well though, and it reflects well on F1 that the 'star drivers' can walk into other disciplines and still perform.

Yeah that would be pretty standard Alonso fare. But seems there might be something in Michelin tyres that can counteract that normal cosmic imbalance he suffers and deliver wins so who knows.

Conway's unlucky though, he really did stand out in Daytona and he was quicker here as well. I'd never heard much about him before but I've watched two races he's been involved in and he's been the most impressive in both and it's some field of drivers he stood out in to be fair to him.

[Flash2k11]

Knowing Alonso's luck, he will win the lot till Le Mans rolls round then get hammered with the most unimaginable bad luck possible. Glad he's doing well though, and it reflects well on F1 that the 'star drivers' can walk into other disciplines and still perform.

Yeah that would be pretty standard Alonso fare. But seems there might be something in Michelin tyres that can counteract that normal cosmic imbalance he suffers and deliver wins so who knows.

Conway's unlucky though, he really did stand out in Daytona and he was quicker here as well. I'd never heard much about him before but I've watched two races he's been involved in and he's been the most impressive in both and it's some field of drivers he stood out in to be fair to him.

Pretty sure Conway was always good at Macau, and he certainly had a fanbase in Indy at one point, though I know precious little enough about either to accurately comment.

[Zazu]

Le Man's is next up

Amazed at the crowd, biggest I've seen for a standard round ( le man obviously another level). Which is incredibly considering the lmp1 is a farce

[Johnson]

Congrats to Alonso. It would be amazing to see him add Le Mans to his career and it seems he have the best opportunity to do it right away. Amazing, he can win in literally anything with hardly any practise.

[typaH4okc]

I wonder how an F1 car would do in 6 hour race? Would it make it to the checkered flag? Of course they are not built for that, but what do you think?

[Exediron]

I wonder how an F1 car would do in 6 hour race? Would it make it to the checkered flag? Of course they are not built for that, but what do you think?

I personally believe that a Mercedes F1 car (they seem to have the most reliable engine) turned down to run at just a few seconds faster than LMP1, would easily last a 6 hour race and win. It would need to be modified to re-fuel, of course, and it couldn't do a night race since it has no headlights, but for 6 hours they should be set.

An F1 engine has to last for about 6 races this year, and each race is longer than an hour. They really should be able to make it.

EDIT for afterthoughts: Fundamentally, this is a problem for me. Formula 1 and endurance racing are two separate disciplines: if F1 cars have now become mandated to be so reliable that they could plausibly compete in an endurance event, they've gone way too far towards conservatism in the technology.

[iano]

Conway was the driver along with Norris who lit up Daytona in the wet a few months ago so this could be good.

Norris? I had heard he do anything. So he is racing cars now? Go Chuck

[Warheart01]

Dude... Careful with that fairy cakes, I'm drinking my coffee, almost painted my monitor with it...

[kleefton]

Alonso is simply amazing. The guy jumps into any car and he drives at an elite level. Just learned he won the Spa endurance race alongside Buemi and Nakajima. Already an incredible achievement to me. It's such an annoying shame he can't get a competitive car in F1 though. I can't express that deeply enough.

[mpls2]

Alonso is simply amazing. The guy jumps into any car and he drives at an elite level. Just learned he won the Spa endurance race alongside Buemi and Nakajima. Already an incredible achievement to me. It's such an annoying shame he can't get a competitive car in F1 though. I can't express that deeply enough.

hardly surprising and minium expected of him,, in a car that win last year also when porsche was still in it, Even if Alonso didn't race that same car would stiill have won this year

[Zazu]

An F1 car could easily last 6 hours. Just look at the top teams in testing.

WEC cars would knock seconds off their last time if they were allowed to develop the diffuser. I'd love to see F1 vs WEC if they could mash the rules up a bit so they were comparable lap times

[typaH4okc]

I wonder how an F1 car would do in 6 hour race? Would it make it to the checkered flag? Of course they are not built for that, but what do you think?

I personally believe that a Mercedes F1 car (they seem to have the most reliable engine) turned down to run at just a few seconds faster than LMP1, would easily last a 6 hour race and win. It would need to be modified to re-fuel, of course, and it couldn't do a night race since it has no headlights, but for 6 hours they should be set.

An F1 engine has to last for about 6 races this year, and each race is longer than an hour. They really should be able to make it.

EDIT for afterthoughts: Fundamentally, this is a problem for me. Formula 1 and endurance racing are two separate disciplines: if F1 cars have now become mandated to be so reliable that they could plausibly compete in an endurance event, they've gone way too far towards conservatism in the technology.

Good point about F1 being overly reliable. Do they do any kind of maintenance on the PUs between races? I remember someone saying that PU suppliers keep possession of the engines between race weekends. I would think being able to last 6 separate races and going full speed for 6 hours straight is not quite the same thing stress-wise.

[pokerman]

Alonso is simply amazing. The guy jumps into any car and he drives at an elite level. Just learned he won the Spa endurance race alongside Buemi and Nakajima. Already an incredible achievement to me. It's such an annoying shame he can't get a competitive car in F1 though. I can't express that deeply enough.

I heard team orders came into play were after the last pit stop the faster Toyota was not allowed to challenge Alonso's car.

[Exediron]

Alonso is simply amazing. The guy jumps into any car and he drives at an elite level. Just learned he won the Spa endurance race alongside Buemi and Nakajima. Already an incredible achievement to me. It's such an annoying shame he can't get a competitive car in F1 though. I can't express that deeply enough.

I heard team orders came into play were after the last pit stop the faster Toyota was not allowed to challenge Alonso's car.

Yes, because he had car trouble. So they were ordered not to overtake, but it wouldn't have been a representative result either way.

[Lotus49]

Alonso is simply amazing. The guy jumps into any car and he drives at an elite level. Just learned he won the Spa endurance race alongside Buemi and Nakajima. Already an incredible achievement to me. It's such an annoying shame he can't get a competitive car in F1 though. I can't express that deeply enough.

I heard team orders came into play were after the last pit stop the faster Toyota was not allowed to challenge Alonso's car.

Pretty common in WEC after the last stop. They had 5 and a half hours of racing up til then. The last SC wiping out a minute lead and Alonso allowing Kamui to unlap himself earlier was the only reason the #7 car was in contention after their unfortunate penalty and the #8 had a gearbox issue anyway.

#7 also passed a car under the SC and should've had a drive through as well.

But having said that I think the #7 has to be favourite for Lemans and the title, Conway and Kamui were the quickest on average, Conway by a good margin and stood out again whereas for the #8 Alonso had the closest spread of times of all the Toyota drivers so was the most consistent across both cars and had the fastest average lap time of the #8's drivers so still a pretty impressive debut all things considered.

To be the most consistent Toyota driver on debut in all that traffic shows good potential I think. Especially as Spa is hardly an Alonso happy hunting ground.

[Lotus49]

Seems some team orders decided that the No.7 with Conway,Koba and Lopez would finish ahead of the No.8 with Buemi,Alonso and Nakajima in the latest round in China.

Now only 6pts in it with 3 rounds to go and we can bury any conspiracy nonsense about Alonso can't be challenged within the team. 2 losses in a row with one of them by team orders against him when they were quicker.