Alonso pilots F1 car in historic preamble to 24 Hours of Le Mans

Paris, Aug 21 (EFE).- Fernando Alonso, who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice during his break from Formula One, made history Saturday when he took an F1 car around the Circuit de la Sarthe before the start of the 2021 edition of endurance racing’s marquee event.

At the wheel of a Renault RS18, the 40-year-old Spaniard led a procession organized by his current F1 team, Alpine.

Following the two-time F1 champion were Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon in an A110 GT4 and the team principal, Laurent Rossi, who drove an A110S model on the 8.5-mile circuit.

Alonso, driving for Honda, triumphed at Le Mans in 2018 and 2019 on the way to claiming the 2018-2019 World Endurance Championship.

For the fourth time in five years, the Toyota No. 7 started from pole and the remained in the lead three hours into the race thanks to the efforts of Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria “Pechito” Lopez and Mike Conway.

The Toyota No. 8, driven by Sebastian Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley, was a close second, well ahead of the Alpine of Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthiei Vaxiviere.

This 89th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans features the debut of a new category, Hypercar, in the place of LMP1. EFE

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