Dakar 2020: Alonso, in the back account: “I'm here to enjoy and finish it”

“I’ve not come to go away after the second or third day due to a silly mistake,” says the Toyota driver.

The Dakar group gathered its stars at the official press convention prior to Sunday's departure in Yeddah. Amongst the dozen elected, lots of them multigamers (Stphane Peterhansel, Carlos Sainz, Toby Worth, Nani Roma or Eduard Nikolaev), highlighted Fernando Alonso. From the second row of the podium, the Toyota rider monopolize lots of the journalists' questions. “I'm here to see what the Dakar is like, however above all to finish it,” he stated.

The assembly with journalists happened at King Abdullah Sports activities Metropolis, the identical stadium as subsequent week to host the Spanish Tremendous Cup. Alonso shared gestures of complicity with Sainz, Roma or Laia Sanz, positioned simply to his proper. His concept for the subsequent two weeks in the automotive coincides with that relaxed ambiance earlier than the microphones.

“All Toyota drivers are here to win, however I’m here to enjoy,” revealed his teammates Nasser Al-Attiyah, Giniel de Villiers and Bernhard Ten Brinke, victory candidates with permission from Sainz and Peterhansel, each at the wheel of a Mini X-Raid.

“Very massive balls”

The double winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with simply 10 days of earlier competitors with the Toyota Hilux, face the race “with some calm.” “I’ve not come to go away after the second or third day due to a silly mistake,” stated Alonso.

The hyperlink with the Gazoo Racing, which earned him the title of the Resistance World Cup in 2019, now extends into the desert. A brand new problem exterior the circuits, its pure habitat for twenty years. “I don’t come for advertising and marketing, I don’t want it. That is one thing completely new and out of my consolation circle. It isn’t a present. I’m left with very massive balls,” he stated.