It's been a ripe old time for Toyota Gazoo Racing recently. We've has the release of the
Yaris GRMN
Racing Trophy
GR Super Sport Concept
- and now its driver line-up announcement for the 2018 WEC season, which is also what you might call "high profile".
Using the TS050 Hybrid LMP1 race cars from 2017, Toyota is again targeting the top step at Le Mans this year after having just missed out in 1992, 1994, 1999, 2013 and 2016. There's only one change in the two-car team lineup - but it's a biggie, with double F1 World Champion Fernando Alonso getting a seat alongside Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima, and Anthony Davidson taking the reserve and development driver job.
It's another new step for Alonso, who recently undertook his first stint in endurance racing at the 24 hours of Daytona, unfortunately, retiring through the night in 38th place. His race debut in WEC will come at Spa in May when competing in rounds that don't conflict with the F1 calendar.
Alonso said, "Endurance racing is a different discipline compared to single-seaters and I enjoyed my first taste of it at Daytona.[...] It will be a steep learning curve for me but I am ready for this challenge and I can't wait to get started."
With the Monaco Grand Prix already in the bag, Alonso is plainly still deadly serious about becoming only the second driver to have won motorsport's so-called Triple Crown alongside Graham Hill. If all goes well with Toyota at Le Mans, only the Indy 500 will stand in his way.
[Le Mans image: LAT Photo]
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