Since leaving Formula One, Fernando Alonso has competed in iconic races as diverse at the 24 Hours of Daytona and the Dakar Rally. The two-time F1 World Champion added a WEC World Championship, plus wins at Le Mans, to his driving resume. Alonso’s wins at the Monaco Grand Prix (’06 and ’07 with Renault) combined with wins at Le Mans (’18 and ’19 with Toyota) leave him only one win away from securing the Triple Crown of Motorports. Now he needs to win the Indy 500.
It’s been widely speculated in the media that Fernando Alonso would reunite with Andretti Autosport’s IndyCar team to race in the Indy 500. The Spaniard had a fantastic rookie run at Indianapolis in 2017 in a joint effort by McLaren and Andretti with a Honda powerplant.
The 2015 reunification of McLaren and Honda, combined with Alonso at the wheel, should have been a fairy tale. Alonso got to live out his childhood dream, driving for Senna’s team.
But Alonso was publicly critical of Honda’s substandard Formula 1 power unit. In a recent interview, Alonso expressed regret at his famous “GP2 engine” insult towards Honda at the Japanese Grand Prix. Could a carefully worded apology from Alonso patch up things up with Honda?
No.
Alonso had lined up a deal to return to Indianapolis to race with the Honda-powered Andretti Autosport team, who’ve been so dominant at the 500 mile race in the past decade. HPD (Honda Performance Development, a division of American Honda Motor Co.) agreed to supply Alonso with an engine, nut they requested final approval and blessing from Honda’s global headquarters in Tokyo. Rather than a big annoucement of Alonso’s return to the Indy 500 the Japanese manufacturer has stopped the deal, refused to allow Alonso to race their engines, and left Alonso twisting in the wind. Payback for Japan 2015, and a lot of other things too.
Fernando Alonso needs to consider racing at Indianapolis in this year’s Battle at the Brickyard karting event.
The 4th edition of USAC Karting’s Battle at the Brickyard is set for 18 classes of racing at this years running. The main focus of one the event is being all encompassing for kart racers from all walks of life and the most diverse class structure in karting. The Battle at the Brickyard has become a melting pot in karting. Everything from families pitting out of the back of their pickup truck parked next to a canopy housing 12 karts.
The event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will take place from July 23 to 26. Karts will take to the track on Friday morning the 24th with practice and qualifying. Saturday and Sunday will continue with the qualifying races and feature events. Along with a date change is the new ownership of the famed yard of bricks as the Penske Entertainment Group has purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For the competitors the largest change to the event will see Hoosier Kart Sport becoming the official tire of the Battle at the Brickyard.
Although Alonso would have the option to run a Briggs & Stratton 206 engine, or 175cc KZ or Rok engine, the SMART move would be to bolt on a stock Honda engine into his FA kart and run away from the field.
After such a performance, surely the Japanese would forgive and forget.