24h Le Mans
The main attraction of the 56th edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona - first round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season - is of course two-time Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso, making his big debut in Endurance racing from 13th position on the starting grid at the wheel of the #23 Ligier LMP2.
The competition will be fierce for the Spanish driver and his teammates, with as many as six previous 24 Hours of Le Mans winners on the starting grid (read Previous 24 Hours of Le Mans winners on the starting grid at Daytona). The best-placed drivers - Romain Dumas and Loïc Duval - will start from eighth position behind polemen Renger van Der Zande, Ryan Hunter-Reay (winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 2014) and Jordan Taylor (third in the LMGTE Pro class with Corvette Racing at the 2017 24 Hours of Le Mans).
It is not the American driver's Le Mans teammates, Olivier Gavin and Tommy Milner, who secured pole position in the GTLM class (LMGTE Pro in the U.S.), but the #3 C7.R sister car driven by Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia and Mike Rockenfeller (winner at the 24 Hours in 2010) ahead of the #66 Ford GT of Dirk Müller, Joey Hand and Sébastien Bourdais (winner in the LMGTE Pro class at Le Mans in 2016), 50 years to the day after the first of the American marque's four consecutive victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The start of the Rolex 24 at Daytona will be given this evening at 7:40 p.m. in the U.K. (2:40 p.m. local time). The full race will be live streamed on the official IMSA website (IMSA.tv) starting at 7:30 p.m. in the U.K., and broadcast on the Fox network in the U.S.
PHOTO (Copyright - Richard Dole/LAT Images, IMSA): Fernando Alonso will make his debut in Endurance racing at the 2018 Rolex 24 at Daytona.
