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Alonso felt immediately comfortable at WTR Daytona 24 Hours squad

Two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso says he felt immediately comfortable at the Wayne Taylor Racing team with which he will contest this month's Daytona 24 Hours

Alonso and fellow Toyota World Endurance Championship driver Kamui Kobayashi have joined WTR for Daytona, and are sharing the 2017 race-winning Cadillac DPi-V.R with Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande.

Taylor was quick to commend his part-time team-mates on adapting well to the Cadillac and WTR after last week's official 'Roar Before the 24' test.

Alonso, who last year contested Daytona in a United Autosports Ligier JSP217, was also pleased with the progress made during the test, in which the #10 WTR Cadillac twice topped sessions.

"Everything went fine, quite a smooth weekend of testing," said Alonso.

"It was the first time for me with the Cadillac and with the team. I got seat-fitted into the car, I went through all the philosophy that the team has and it was quite smooth.

"Great team, great people, and I felt quite happy in the car and with the balance right from the beginning.

"I knew the track from last year, so I had that advantage. It was just full concentration on how the team works and how the team wanted to get through the test.

"I think we made some improvements in the car. We learned a couple of things that we can put in place for the Rolex 24.

"We have a strong team - all the drivers have enough experience and enough speed, hopefully, to run consistently fast."

But Alonso was realistic about his chances of winning the race, however strong WTR appeared to be.

"It's a very long race and everything has to go your way," he said. "A lot of different factors determine who wins these long races.

"On our side, we just have to keep the concentration high, execute the race the best we can, and help the team with our feedback and our care for the car over the 24 hours."

Kobayashi: Expectation is to win

Kobayashi, who will make his first Daytona 24 Hours start, echoed Alonso's comments on the ease with which he had settled in but was more confident in his predictions of how WTR would perform.

"As we expected, I think the team worked very well together," he said. "We know what we have to do.

"We all have enough experience for this type of race. We just collaborate with our experience to bring each other up to speed.

"We have some homework to do to come back even stronger. We have room for more with the 24-hour race. Our expectation is to win.

"I feel really happy being here and very proud to drive for this team. I think we enjoy and know each other well, we communicated well.

"The track is pretty amazing, especially the banking. I'm always looking for new stuff that is exciting in motorsports and this track is one of those kinds of things."

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