Author: David Malsher / Source: motorsport.com
Fernando Alonso has produced one of the great drives of his career in the streaming conditions afflicting the Rolex 24 at Daytona, pulling away from his rivals at the rate of 2-3 seconds per lap.
The two-time Formula 1 World Champion was immediately on the pace as he began his second stint in the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-V.
R, swiftly closing on Dane Cameron in the #6 Acura and diving past him at the Bus Stop chicane.One lap later and in near-identical style, he put the #7 Acura of Ricky Taylor behind him, too.
The 10th full-course caution (to retrieve large pieces of debris from the track surface) that immediately followed would compress Alonso’s deficit to the erstwhile leader, Felipe Nasr in the Action Express Racing #31 Cadillac.
Following pitstops, Alonso was into the lead, ahead of Eric Curran who had replaced Nasr, and those pitstops also saw Cameron emerge ahead of teammate Taylor, as the #7 Acura acquired yet another new nose.
At the next restart both Acuras elbowed Curran back to fourth but they couldn’t match Alonso’s sensational pace up front, and nor could Taylor keep up with Cameron. Meanwhile, Curran would have an off, and his reduced pace thereafter saw him fall a lap behind Alonso.
Indeed, the ex-F1 driver had built up an amazing lead of 55 seconds by the time another full course yellow flew at 6am when Tommy Milner aquaplaned his Corvette into the tire barrier at Turn 1.
Cameron and Taylor would pit twice under caution, while Curran would stay out in order to get back on the same lap as Alonso, before handing over to Pipo…
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