Alonso finishes P13 in class at Daytona
Fernando Alonso has finished P38 overall in his first outing at the Daytona 24 Hours with the United Autosports team alongside Lando Norris and Phil Hanson.
After starting from P13 on the grid, Alonso’s slim chances of success were dashed by a rear tyre puncture and by a brake problem which left the Ligier LMP2 car firmly back in the garage.
As Norris brought the No.23 car home P13 in class, 90 laps down in total, there was better fortune for the sister United Autosports car (No.32) driven by Will Owen, Hugo de Sadeleer and ex-Formula 1 drivers Paul di Resta and Bruno Senna.
The foursome were in contention for a podium finish but ultimately missed out in P4, finishing four laps behind.
Williams’ Lance Stroll was the other current Formula 1 driver in action and, like he did in qualifying at Monza last year, excelled in the wet five hours into the race and climbed firmly within the top 10 in tricky conditions.
But, the Jackie Chan DCR JOTA Oreca LMP2 car gradually fell away and a puncture sustained inside the final hour whilst Stroll was behind the wheel meant the team – which also included Daniel Juncadella, Felix Rosenqvist and Robin Frijns – finished P15 overall and P11 in class.
Former Sauber driver Felipe Nasr had a very strong race in the No.31 Cadillac, finishing on the podium in second behind the winning Cadillac team of Joao Barbosa, Felipe Albuquerque and Christian Fittipaldi, nephew of two-time World Champion and Indy 500 winner, Emmerson.
Their No.5 car set a new distance record at the Daytona 24 Hours, racking up 808 laps and beating the previous record of 2776 miles.
The No.67 Ford GT, featuring four-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon, won the GTLM class, with the No.11 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 finished top of the pile in the GTD class.
