Fernando Alonso captured his second straight victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Sunday, but admits he and his team did not deserve to take the victory.
Alonso, together with Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi, captured the lead in the final stages of the race after the #7 sister Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose-Maria Lopez suffered a pair of apparent punctures in the last hours, which allowed Alonso and team-mates to swoop in and take the victory.
Speaking in the post-race press conference, the Spaniard admitted that he didn't feel like the victory was deserved.
"This one was definitely completely unexpected," Alonso commented. "I think we didn’t have the pace for 24 hours. We were not as quick as car #7, and definitely, we didn’t deserve to win on track. Luck was a big factor today."
"Sometimes in motorsport, I remember watching on television, Kazuki stopped one minute before the end in 2016. What can you do in those cases? They are incredibly hard. I experienced those moments as well, fighting for the world championship with McLaren in 2007, with Ferrari in 2010 and 2012. When you arrive at the last moment and are not able to complete the job, it feels bad."
"And I feel sad, you know, and I feel bad for my team-mates because they are not only team-mates, they are friends as well. They deserved it today."
In winning their second overall win at the Circuit de La Sarthe, Alonso, Buemi and Nakajima also took the LMP Drivers' Championship. Alonso is proud to win a third world title, which he claims was his goal heading into the weekend.
"The race chose us to win it, and we take it," Alonso continued. "Our main goal was to be world champions, and I’m extremely proud of that as well. It’s been a long Super Season. Last year was hard, because I committed to do the full Formula One plus the WEC. The full WEC, not just Le Mans, because I wanted to fight for one more world championship, and today is the day we take it, so it’s a very important day."
Discussion about this post