19/11/2017
NEWS STORY
Following its victory in the Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain on Saturday, its fifth of the season, the Toyota Gazoo Racing team returned to the Bahrain International Circuit today to participate in the annual WEC rookie test.
Regular drivers Mike Conway and Sebastien Buemi were joined at the test by two-time world champion Fernando Alonso and rising endurance star Thomas Laurent.
The rookie test represented the perfect opportunity for Alonso, who is interested by Le Mans as well as endurance racing in general, to drive a state-of-the-art hybrid LMP1 car. He completed a total of 113 laps in the No 8 TS050 Hybrid, a total of 611km.
Laurent joined the test as a reward for his impressive performances in LMP2 this season, which included a second-place finish at the Le Mans 24 Hours. He completed 31 laps in the No 7 car in the morning session.
"It was a great day," said Alonso. "Testing an LMP1 car is always a nice thing for any racing driver because these cars are amazing to drive. They are very consistent throughout a stint which is a positive thing.
"I have wanted to test a car like this for a long time now and today I could achieve that so I am happy."
The Spaniard's best time of the day was a 1:43.013 which was good enough to make him the second fastest rookie, Pietro Fittipaldi going marginally quicker in the Porsche 919 Hybrid as the German manufacturer's WEC programme came to an end.
Ahead of next weekend's F1 season finale in Abu Dhabi, Alonso is scheduled to test the United Autosports LMP2 Ligier JS P217 as his Daytona preparations get underway.