Fernando Alonso has secured this past Sunday the 24 Hours of Daytona 2019 along with his Wayne Taylor Racing teammates: Jordan Taylor, Renger van Der Zande and Kamui Kobayashi at the Daytona International Speedway. 

The Spanish driver delighted fans with a superb performance, propping up his team to the top of the podium in a race marked by the rain and the accidents, which originated multiple yellow and red flags. A test reserved only for the most daring of drivers before the checkered flag.

A historic performance

Memorable, sublime, incredible…are just some of the adjectives given to the Spaniard’s exhibition at the legendary American race. Especially noteworthy has been his night stint, reminiscent of his own performance at Le Mans in 2018. Under artificial lights.

Former Formula 1 driver took over the Cadillac DPi-V.R #10 in the ninth position. From then on, he started a frantic comeback, devouring one rival after another up to the very top. Spectators could not believe what the driver from Asturias was doing in this his first race at the wheel of the black rocket … and under a relentless deluge.

With nine hours and forty-five minutes to go, he took the car once more under another unfavourable situation. His mission was to recover the leadership that his teammate Jordan Taylor had lost. Again, he didn’t disappoint and gave a great exhibition of his talent behind the wheel, regaining the first position at the 24 Hours of Daytona 2019.

Fernando saves the day

The situation was further complicated by an unthinkable team error. His car had been mounted dry tires amidst such wet conditions. Alonso had to go back to pits with the subsequent loss of time which now he had to win back again.

When he re-joined the track, he was running fourth and was about to be doubled up at 1.51 seconds behind the leader. It seemed everything was lost at the 24 Hours of Daytona 2019. It is in these circumstances that you can tell the good drivers from the true champions apart; the latter are capable of reversing a situation in the face of which the former would have given up.

To add some extra drama, the numerous puddles caused everyone to suffer aquaplaning.  On top of that, visibility was practically null due to the spray. The result was plenty of accidents and cars going off-track, in sum, a territory that only the real heroes can handle.

In an unforgettable twenty minutes, Alonso imposed a brutal pace passing adversaries as if it were a video game. He was so superior that he managed to open a gap of fifty-four seconds. Then, Miller’s Chevrolet Corvette suffered an accident triggering a safety car. Later on, the red flag came out due to the accumulation of water on the tarmac. 

Alonso continues writing his legend in the history of Motorsports and adding achievements to his extraordinary track record. Once again, the Spaniard has shown his unique versatility, which allows him to be the fastest on any car he chooses to ride.

In his own words regarding his goal of winning the Triple Crown: “I want to be as complete a driver as possible and so I must succeed in several disciplines”. Well, he is well on track to achieve that dream.

Daytona’s winners

13.458 seconds behind Alonso came the Cadillac DPi #31 of the Whelen Engineering Racing within the DPi class with drivers, Felipe Nasr, Eric Curran and Luis Felipe Derani. The third position was for the Acura #7 of Team Penske with Ricky Taylor, Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi, 13,964 seconds behind at the 24 Hours of Daytona 2019.

Meanwhile, in the LMP2 category, the triumph was for the Oreca 07 with the #18 of DragonSpeed, shared by Pastor Maldonado, Roberto Gonzalez, Ryan Cullen and Sebastian Saavedra. As for the GTLM category, victory went to the BMW RLL Team #25 of Augusto Farfus, Connor De Phillippi, Colton Ertha and Philip Eng. 

Finally, the Lamborghini Huracan #11 of the Grasser Racing Team has won the GTD, thanks to Rolf Ineichen, Mirko Bortolotti, Christian Engelhart and Rik Breukers.

24 Hours of Daytona 2019 Images: Fernando Alonso’s Twitter account, IMSA and Wayne Taylor Racing