Alonso Wins Something - At Last!

[Paul Jeffrey]

Fernando Alonso celebrates debut WEC win with strong Spa Prototype performance for Toyota.

Taking the chequered flag with a win from Pole Position, Fernando Alonso started his new World Endurance Championship career in fine style earlier today as the Spanish double Formula One World Champion headed home a Toyota one - two in the first race of the 2018/19 FIA WEC 'Superseason'.

Crossing the finish line after 163 laps of racing just under two seconds from the sister car of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez, Alonso made a dream start in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid in his bid to secure Le Mans and WEC success this year, alongside his commitments to McLaren Renault in Formula One.

The race would be a demonstration event for both works Toyota cars as the large customer contingent of LMP 1 machines never really looked in contention for outright victory, backed up by the brave fight from a pitlane start back to second position for the #7 Toyota, albeit helped by a long safety car period following a sizeable accident at Eau Rouge for the Matevos Isaakyan driven #17 SMP Racing BR1-AER LMP 1, causing the field to bunch up in the final hour of what was a fascinating event over in Belgium.

Despite being a somewhat one side affair for Toyota, the race would nevertheless be a powerful signal of intent from the FIA that the World Endurance Championship is very much going strong, despite the recent exodus of manufacturer teams from the top category in recent seasons, and with the added element of the participation of one of Grand Prix racing's arguably biggest talents, 2018 looks like it is going to be one great seasons of endurance racing...

For the full results from Spa, check the link out HERE.

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Can Alonso win the WEC title this year? Have you been impressed with the performance from Alonso this weekend? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

[elrollaor]

it was a great ending with both toyotas closer in the last 50 minutes

 

[Tbear]

Rather like Hamlet, don't ya think?

The pair got separated after a botched start. After a bit of good pit work and hard driving, they were united and out front. Unfortunately our Hamlet stuffed it into the ti(y)res at Raidillion. Sigh.

At least they got the win.

 

[TrumpetReich]

The other Toyota had to start at the back but eventually caught the #8. Then they went in for pitstops together and the 7 magically lost 10 seconds. Then the 7 was catching Alonso rapidly at the end but suddenly backed off. Couldn't possibly be team orders, surely not team orders.

But great job Fernando, you won in a lower series.

Edit: I don't hate Alonso, I think it would be cool to see him get the triple crown, but only if it's a legitimate win and not a sham where the one dominant team clearly sets everything up to give his car the win.

 

[Thang Nguyen]

Finally my idol driver has won at Spa-Francorchamps...

 

[protonv5]

I guess in a car that couldn't lose, they won.

 

[Slowdive]

I guess in a car that couldn't lose, they won.

Why do you hate Hamilton so much?

 

[NASCRAP]

Manor's Chinese money wasn't delivered as promised, so they didn't race. It wouldn't surprise me if they missed the whole season.

 

[chili pepper]

Good on Alonso and team for the win. That's got to feel good after what he's weathered the past few years with the McLaren/Honda arrangement in F1. Something to motivate and reinforce purpose.

 

[Richard Dastardly]

#8 car was only going to lose if they broke it which I think even Toyota has problems doing over 6 hours - hats off to Rebellion for being so far ahead of the other privateers, other than perhaps some preparation issues they were superb. Not a chance vs the Toyos though, as #7 demonstrated. I'm still dubious they didn't cut Mike Conway's boost off when it looked like he was going to pass Alonso, that was a really suspicious time to find the car stopped working.

GTE-Pro, what a farce. Whoever did that BoP needs investigating by an auditor that was so one-sided. BoP really works! just waiting for a GTE SUV, they might as well.

GTE-Am, what a finale though! was rooting for TF Sport personally but that was a happy result.

Oh, and there was another class, wasn't there.

 

[Llorch Durden]

I watched this right after the RD event on twitch. So freaking amazing races all over the Saturday

 

[Jonny Austin]

Finally my idol driver has won at Spa-Francorchamps...

Alonso won at Spa in F3000 in the year 2000 F3000(GP2,F2) series.This drive got the attention of Flavio Briatore who put him in the Minardi the following year.
https://www.gettyimages.es/detail/f...on-during-the-f3000-race-in-picture-id1095992

 

[RufGTI]

ALONSO ALONSO ALONSO and more ALONSO!!!1!!1

Seriously, Nando totally deserves to win Le Mans and the triple crown but without opponents this win would be quite pathetic. And since when is the WEC in need to confine itself to one driver?

 

[samprince053]

Manor's Chinese money wasn't delivered as promised, so they didn't race. It wouldn't surprise me if they missed the whole season.

They already said its a short term cashflow problem and will race at Le Mans.

 

[Jonny Austin]

#8 car was only going to lose if they broke it which I think even Toyota has problems doing over 6 hours - hats off to Rebellion for being so far ahead of the other privateers, other than perhaps some preparation issues they were superb. Not a chance vs the Toyos though, as #7 demonstrated. I'm still dubious they didn't cut Mike Conway's boost off when it looked like he was going to pass Alonso, that was a really suspicious time to find the car stopped working.

GTE-Pro, what a farce. Whoever did that BoP needs investigating by an auditor that was so one-sided. BoP really works! just waiting for a GTE SUV, they might as well.

GTE-Am, what a finale though! was rooting for TF Sport personally but that was a happy result.

Oh, and there was another class, wasn't there.

The BOP does look a mess in GTE.With all the access to the data etc.it looks weird from the outside.To me the BMW M8 looks like just a bad car in Imsa & WEC spec.Even when Imsa gave them some breaks the car looked inconsistant.The Aston however looks pretty good but quite slow.To much downforce maybe?

 

[Jonny Austin]

ALONSO ALONSO ALONSO and more ALONSO!!!1!!1

Seriously, Nando totally deserves to win Le Mans and the triple crown but without opponents this win would be quite pathetic. And since when is the WEC in need to confine itself to one driver?

It is all about attention & clicks nowadays.I could not believe the Spanish interest in WEC on Twitter.Looks like all the Alonso,Alonso,Alonso stuff will gain sportscar racing some new fans.I predict a bunch of new Spanish drivers,teams & a Spanish race in the next few years with this level of interest.

 

[Boby Kim]

After his tremendous effort to keep positive, failure after failure in the Mclaren i

I guess in a car that couldn't lose, they won.

Ehm....isnt that always the case during a finish?

 

[shimon.ifraimov]

the race was really good, great battles in the GT classes but p1 was a bit dull, the toyota is way too fast compared to the other p1 cars. hope to see some changes in the next race.

 

[Jango.]

It is a little pathetic to see so many comments against Alonso.
Not only has Alonso won, I remind you that he has shared a car with two other drivers, but hey ... it seems like a good opportunity to attack the Spaniard.
You know that team orders exist, and Formula 1 is a good example of that.

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

That ending was a really sad example of a manufactured result, car #7 was faster all day and in the final stint Conway closed the gap to Alonso twice, before backing away.

In GT the BOP wars have started.