Honda Scuppers Alonso’s Plan to Race in Le Mans for Porsche

Racing drivers participating in different forms of motorsport is nothing new. In

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by Andreas Tsaousis

January 19, 2015 at 13:59

Racing drivers participating in different forms of motorsport is nothing new. In previous decades, many drove in multiple championships the same year, from Formula 1 to Indycars and pretty much anything in between.

Why, even now, 9-time WRC world champion Sebastien Loeb races almost everywhere he wants, from the World Touring Car Championship to the Pikes Peak hill climb, endurance racing and select WRC rounds, like the upcoming Monte Carlo rally this week.

Fernando Alonso won’t be able to follow suit. That’s because, according to an ESPN report, McLaren engine supplier Honda vetoed his plans to race in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans with one of the three Porsche factory-backed entries.

The 2015 Le Mans event will take place on June 13-14, the weekend between the F1 Canadian and Austrian GPs, so there was no date conflict. If a deal was struck, then Alonso would have shared his seat in the 919 Hybrid with another F1 driver, Nico Hulkenberg.

When Alonso was out of the picture, Porsche started talking to former Sauber F1 driver Adrian Sutil. It didn’t strike a deal with him either, reportedly due to contractual issues with his former team.

Apparently, only Hulkenberg’s team, Force India, is willing to give its F1 driver the chance to try his hands at something different…