IMSA: Fernando Alonso to join Wayne Taylor Racing for 24 Hours of Daytona

The now former Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso is set to join Kamui Kobayashi at Wayne Taylor Racing at the 24 Hours of Daytona IMSA race.

With the 2018 Formula 1 season officially in the books, the age of Fernando Alonso driving open-wheel cars full-time has come to an end…for now. The veteran driver has announced that he will be teaming up with Wayne Taylor Racing alongside Kamui Kobayashi to compete at the 24 Hours of Daytona in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship come January 26.

Wayne Taylor Racing have long served as a pillar of competitive form in IMSA with regular season drivers Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande taking full-time driver duties. With their No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R, the team are coming off of a strong 2017 campaign that saw crew chief Travis Houge help in leading the team to five consecutive wins at the beginning of the season as well as 10 podium finishes and a series championship.

2019 will not be the first year during which Alonso has competed at the Daytona endurance event, as the Spaniard made an appearance with the United Autosports Ligier prototype program, which ran at the tail end of the pack. Alonso has also spent nearly a full season in the World Endurance Championship driving for the 2.4-liter, twin-turbo hybrid Toyota TS050 with a high level of success since the car is the only hybrid car in the class.

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The 2019 IMSA season brings a split between the traditional global LMP2 chassis and the American Daytona Prototype International (DPi) platforms in order to allow more global LMP2 teams to enter the series and keep competitive with American LMP2 teams.

The DPi class has taken root as IMSA’s solution to the Prototype class with the Cadillac DPi-V.R epitomizing what happens when “America” and “Prototype” are kept in the same sentence. Alonso will be stepping into a seat with one of the most competitive teams in American sports car racing with a very much non-hybrid Cadillac V8 power plant providing mass amounts of torque. Wayne Taylor Racing lead driver Jordan Taylor, who also serves as the team’s unofficial social media persona, was incredibly excited to announce the addition of Formula 1 royalty to the esteemed team.

The 24 Hours of Daytona serves as the latest achievement that Alonso wishes to hunt down, as the Spaniard has achieved victory in Europe’s most intense endurance race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which saw him celebrate atop the podium in with his Toyota teammates.

With the biggest European endurance race tackled, Alonso is onto the 24 Hours of Daytona. Here is what he had to say about it, according to The Drive.

"“Learning about a completely new racing category, adapting to a different car and to another style of driving and everything that goes with it, is a new challenge for me. The Daytona 24 Hours is the most iconic U.S. endurance race and one of the world’s great races…my aim is to be a complete driver and this experience will help me in the preparation for any other endurance race I might take part in.”"

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If Fernando Alonso wants the best chance to win the 24 Hours of Daytona, Wayne Taylor Racing is the place to be. The wait to see him is not far away as the official Roar Before the Rolex 24 is scheduled to begin on Friday, January 4 and cover a three-day span. Look for new teams and big name drivers to take the flag for the most historic endurance race in American sports car racing.

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