Alonso embarks on maiden Dakar Rally car test
Fernando Alonso's post-Formula 1 ventures took a new turn on Wednesday as he embarked on his maiden test in a Dakar Rally-spec car with Toyota in South Africa.
Two-time world champion Alonso retired from F1 at the end of last year in order to turn his attention to other racing disciplines, with his priority being a second entry to the Indianapolis 500 in a bid to complete the 'triple crown of motorsport'.
Fernando Alonso's post-Formula 1 ventures took a new turn on Wednesday as he embarked on his maiden test in a Dakar Rally-spec car with Toyota in South Africa.
Two-time world champion Alonso retired from F1 at the end of last year in order to turn his attention to other racing disciplines, with his priority being a second entry to the Indianapolis 500 in a bid to complete the 'triple crown of motorsport'.
Alonso remains part of Toyota's LMP1 team and leads the FIA World Endurance Championship drivers' championship, but has now extended his racing interests to rallying for the first time.
Toyota confirmed on Wednesday that Alonso had completed his maiden test in a Dakar Rally-spec Toyota Hilux alongside 2009 Dakar winner Giniel de Villiers.
Quite a driving lesson for our #LeMans24 winner @alo_oficial... experiencing a @dakar Hilux for the first time with @TheRealGiniel and @TOYOTA_GR. It's going to be fun a ride in the desert Have fun #PushingTheLimitsForBetter pic.twitter.com/I0ksuWDOvf
— TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WEC (@Toyota_Hybrid) March 27, 2019
It marks a first foray into rallying for Alonso as the Spaniard considers events to add to his schedule in the future.
Keen to establish himself as one of the greatest racing drivers of all time, Alonso is looking to enter and win a number of racing's most prestigious events, with the 24 Hours of Le Mans - which he won on debut last year - the Indy 500 and the Rolex 24 at Daytona being three examples.
Speaking last year, Alonso named the Dakar Rally among the most prestigious events in motorsport, as well as the Monte Carlo Rally, but said of the latter he would "not do that, because I need to be honest with myself and I need to know where my limits are and I don’t have the talent to do that."
More recently, Alonso was asked about rumours linking him to a number of events including Dakar.
"They all start as a rumour. But I think some of the bosses or promoters of those series they read it and they call back and they call me and maybe they approach and try to convince me," Alonso said.
"I’m very open for more things. Winning Daytona was good, and adding more kind of things will be great."
