Before their upcoming debuts at Le Mans, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Juan Pablo Montoya made their marks at the Grand Prix of Monaco and Indianapolis 500, the other two major circuit races in motorsport. They also experienced, each in his own way, what a 24-hour race is really like.

- All three have won the Grand Prix of Monaco: in chronological order, Montoya in 2003, Alonso in 2006 and 2007, Button in 2009.

- Juan Pablo Montoya is the only driver of the three to win a 24-hour race, at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2007, 2008 and 2013. Jenson Button took the start at the 24 Hours of Spa in 1999 with BMW (retirement).

- Jenson Button is known for the extreme finesse of his driving, particularly when it comes to tire wear, which is a considerable advantage at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in the World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) given the allowance, limited by the regulations, of the number of tires to be used.

- Juan Pablo Montoya will participate in the 86th edition of Le Mans at the wheel of a Ligier JS P217 (LMP2 ) fielded by United Autosports - Alonso's car and team at Daytona earlier this year - for the first 24-hour race of his career.

- Though Jenson Button has never done the Indianapolis 500, Juan Pablo Montoya has won it twice (2000 and 2015) and Fernando Alonso took the start at the American classic in 2017 (retirement).

- Juan Pablo Montoya is an expert in ultrafast circuits. In tandem with his seven F1 victories, he also won at Monza (2001 and 2005) and Silverstone (2005), with Monaco 2003 somehow the exception proving the rule. In addition to his two Indianapolis wins, in 2014 at the oval Pocono circuit in Pennsylvania, he won the fastest 500-mile race in history, completing 800 kilometers in less than 2 hours 30 minutes at an average of 325 km/h.

- Though this year Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Juan Pablo Montoya will all three debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, their circumstances are quite different. The first a factory driver at the wheel of a Toyota hybrid LMP1, the second at the wheel of a private LMP1 prototype fielded by Russian team SMP Racing and the third a favorite in the LMP2 class driving one of United Autosports' two Ligier JS P217s.

 

Click HERE for the first installment in this series about Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Juan Pablo Montoya.

 

PHOTO: At the 24 Hours of Le Mans - and for the remaining rounds of the 2018-2019 World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) Super Season - Russian duo Mikhail Aleshin-Vitaly Petrov will share the wheel of SMP Racing's #11 BR1-AER with Jenson Button.