Fernando Alonso says he is "more prepared" for enduring racing after his first experience of long-distance racing with the United Autosports team at the Daytona 24 Hours.
Alonso linked up with United Autosports, the team co-chaired by McLaren chief Zak Brown, for the event, piloting its #23 Ligier PS217 alongside Lando Norris and Phil Hanson.
From 13th on the grid, the #23 car made progress, even leading the race during the pit stop phase, but an array of problems sent the trio tumbing down the order, losing several laps in the process.
Alonso, Norris and Hanson eventually finished 13th in class and 38th overall, but the Spaniard feels he has gained invaluable knowledge from the outing, as he eyes a tilt at the Le Mans 24 Hours later this year.
"I have a positive feeling about this weekend’s race and the whole event, I really did enjoy this a lot," said Alonso.
"I love driving and doing this for eight or nine hours in a race is great! Unfortunately, we had too many issues that were out of our control, some unlucky situations like the puncture."
"We made some changes after practice and qualifying and [in the race] we were consistently one of the three fastest cars. That gave us a lot of confidence going into the night, we recovered two laps, also thanks to the safety car periods. After that, we had some brake issues which the team had never experienced before and we lost a lot of time."
Alonso added that the various challenges he faced during the race will aid his prospects in the future.
"Despite the issues we had, I have a good taste in my mouth," he explained.
"I learned how to cope with the fatigue, traffic management, full course yellows, night driving, driver change procedures, driving preparation between the stints like how much rest you need to have and the amount of time you need to allow in the garage before taking over the car again.
"So, if and when I ever do another 24 hour [race], I’ll be much more prepared as it’ll be my second time. Now I think I can drive prototype cars at a higher level than two weeks ago, as I now know things I didn’t know 24 hours ago."
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