Autosport Plus

The tough choice facing a Le Mans 100 percenter

There's one driver preparing for the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans with a special record to defend at the Circuit de la Sarthe - but it's not Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso will start his second Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend with the sole aim of preserving his 100% record at the race on his farewell sportscar appearance for Toyota.

But there's another driver in the field with a similar record - albeit in class, rather than overall - who in different circumstances could have been one of Alonso's contemporaries this year, as he was a key part of the Toyota set-up before being quietly shuffled out of the picture in 2014.

Share Or Save This Story

Author James Newbold

James Newbold is Autosport's Plus Editor, responsible for coordinating website feature content.

In a sign of things to come, having completed his Politics and International Relations degree at the University of East Anglia in 2015, he left his graduation ceremony early to catch the last train to Brussels for the following day's Spa 24 Hours.

After a period as a freelancer, he joined the Autosport staff in 2018 and won the Motorsport UK young journalist of the year award. He initially edited Autosport magazine's Performance and Engineering supplements before joining the website team in his current role in 2020.

A keen enthusiast of anything that can be categorised unusual or niche, he enjoys unearthing little-known stories across all branches of motorsport, but has spent most of his career covering sportscars and is a regular part of the Le Mans 24 Hours reporting team.

He lives with his wife and children in Plymouth, England.