Fernando Alonso says he has declined several approaches from organisers of “iconic races” in order to focus on his current 2019 programme.
Alonso stepped away from Formula 1 at the end of 2018, though has retained a connection to McLaren and will partake in testing later this year to assist the team’s development.
Alonso was part of the team that triumphed at the Daytona 24 Hours in January and is currently leading the World Endurance Championship title race, along with team-mates Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima.
He will also undertake a second attempt at the Indianapolis 500 this May, with a fully-fledged McLaren team, two years after his race-leading effort on his debut.
“I think I’ve been approached by different series and different teams to race iconic races but at the moment I declined all of them, it’s not the right time,” he said.
“Especially January and February we’ve been very, very busy with Daytona and a lot of testing for WEC in Aragon and in Sebring, now the Sebring race and Indy preparations, Spa, Indy500, Le Mans, so until June or July I think I will be flat out.
“The second part of the season is hopefully more just preparations for big 2020 races so not planned to add too many things this year, but more for next year.”
Alonso was linked to a handful of championships – including the Dakar Rally and NASCAR – but moved to play down such connections.
“They are rumours,” he said. “They all, let’s say, start as a rumour. They all started as a rumour.
“But I think some of the bosses or promoters of those series they read it and they call back and they call me and may be they approach and try to convince me.
“But nothing really on the radar that I want to point but I’m very open for more things. Winning Daytona was good, and adding more kind of things will be great.”
