Alonso beaming after first Toyota test
Fernando Alonso has said his first outing in an LMP1 car was a "great day" as the Spaniard completed 113 laps in the Toyota No.8 in Bahrain.
Alonso's road to Le Mans officially began on Sunday at the Sakir International Circuit where he took part in the World Endurance Championship rookie test.
He covered almost 600km in his 113 laps with a best time of 1:43.013, seven tenths slower than Mike Conway in the Toyota No.7 car.
“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.”
Toyota technical director Pascal Vasselon was impressed with Alonso's consistent running, although would not confirm or deny what was next in store for Alonso with the team.
"A very good job, very disciplined. No spins, no off-track, no damage on the car, which is the first target we give when they jump into a TS050," Vasselon said.
"So all in all, good. We've done obviously a bit more work with Fernando. After getting familiar with the car he went this afternoon to do some tyre testing, complementing what Mike [Conway] was doing on the other car.
"We did not do any low-fuel runs, we did not do any qualifying runs. There was no trophy to win. We've done a full tank all day long and working as much as we could."
