When McLaren driver Alonso announced he was missing the Monaco Grand Prix to race at the Indianapolis 500, the motorsport ‘Triple Crown’ came up.
The Spaniard’s already won Monaco twice, and he’ll be going for the Indy 500 victory this year. The third and final race in the Triple Crown is, of course, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Alonso has shared his desire to win the motorsport Triple Crown and the obvious next step would be to snap up a LMP1 drive for the 2018 Le Mans.
However, both Porsche and Toyota have dismissed the idea, for next year at least.
Porsche team boss Andreas Seidl is quoted by Motorsport.com saying:
“At the moment, it’s not on the table on our side because we only have two cars and I do not see that changing for next year. With the six drivers we have right now, we are very happy. We have no seats available.
“It would have been easier in 2015 with the third car. We had talks there, it didn’t work out in the end. At the moment, there are no options available on our side.”
He added that Porsche “always plans long-term”, indicating all six current drivers have multi-year contracts. Which is a bit of an issue for Alonso.
Toyota’s Rob Leupen was also asked about whether there would be a space for Alonso in 2018 but he also rubbished the possibility:
“From my point of view, it has to be balanced within the team. It’s not a priority to get a big-name in. There is no focus on this at all. Of course, you would listen, but for us it’s not something we would say we are interested in. Not at all.”
It’s a bit disappointing to hear Alonso isn’t on Porsche or Toyota’s radar, but he’s still got plenty of time to attempt the Triple Crown.
