“I keep pushing Alonso to come back to the Dakar”

Fernando Alonso was clear about it. want to compete “Two or three more years” in F1 and after, he has a lot on his mind. One of them is skeptical, because he doesn’t know if he will return to the Indianapolis 500, although he probably wants to try again to win the ‘Triple Crown’. What he repeated on several occasions, last year and on this course, is that he will return to the Dakar with total security in the future. The man who was his partner at Toyota talked about it in his first and only attempt at Dakarin 2020, Nasser Al-Attiyah. The current champion of the world’s toughest event praised the Spaniard’s adaptation to a category different from Rally-Raid and assured that he will continue to “press” the man from Oviedo to return to the desert as soon as possible. .

This is stated in the statements collected by the portal ‘Motorsport.com’. “I keep pushing Fernando to come back to Dakar”taught the 4-time Dakar champion (2010, 2015, 2019 and 2022) and current champion of the first FIA World Raids Championship (W2RC) which was released this year.

“Will he come back? I think so. He loved the Dakar and I’m sure maybe in the next year or two years from now he will come back”, added the Qatari, that this course is one of the main favorites to conquer the ‘bronze touareg’ in January at the wheel of his Toyota Hilux T1+. However, it does not look like the Spaniard’s return to the Dakar could be soon, as he is fully committed to his project with Aston Martin. In his return to the Dakar, it is to fight for victory, so he needs a huge preparation so that he does not change his huge commitment to the challenge that Aston Martin has in hand. Alonso wants to continue “two or three more years” in F1, so his deadline for returning to the Dakar must be longer than Nasser said.

teachings on the sands

In the intense months of preparation for Fernando Alonso debut in Dakar 2020, Al Attiyah he was one of the Toyota members who helped him. In particular, with a master class in the sands of his country, Qatar. “The team asked me to show Fernando what the sand dunes are. It was three days in Qatar at below 50ºC and he did an absolutely incredible job. He is very talented.”he remembered.

“What he did for the first time in Dakar, he showed that he has speed. For these types of races you need experience, because if you look at the history of the Dakar, you need four, five or six editions of experience until you win”he added, praising the speed shown by the Asturian, who has always been among the first in most stages, running out of the long-awaited stage victory due to a rollover at the start of the first stage of the Marathon, where he wanted to go for that win.

“It was very good to have Fernando. We kept talking. We were waiting for him”Nasser added. The message was sent to Fernando. Al-Attiyah will once again welcome the Oviedo player with open arms.