McLaren F1 star Fernando Alonso has conceded United Autosports needs to unearth more pace for this month's Daytona 24 Hours following the conclusion of the Roar Before the 24 test.
Alonso has linked up with United Autosports, the team co-chaired by McLaren boss Zak Brown, to partake in the iconic 24-hour race aboard a Ligier JS P217, with a view to a Le Mans outing.
Alonso took the reins for Sunday’s mock qualifying session – which dictated pit and garage order – but finished 12th, 1.7s behind pacesetter Felipe Nasr, as Cadillac cars controlled proceedings.
“There are still little changes going on and it's the same with the performance of the car," said Alonso.
“Obviously it's early days, it's only testing, but we need to find more pace and hopefully be more competitive when we come back in the race.
“[But] I think it was a positive weekend, obviously it’s nice to have the first touch in the car and experience the circuit for the first time.
“There are small things that you keep learning lap after lap, the sessions are quite short and you share the car with the team-mates so the amount of laps aren’t huge, but it’s better than nothing.
“I feel more prepared for sure, it was a good weekend to work with the guys, with the team, with team-mates, and entering this mood of sharing everything and adapting and making compromises between all of us to be all happy.
“That was the main priority for the weekend and it’s what we achieved.”
Alonso added that he expected driving at night and the multi-class nature of the event, aspects of which he had limited or no experience, to be more challenging, and was pleased with his progress.
“It was not a big difference compared to daytime,” Alonso said of tackling the Daytona circuit at night.
“Also in F1 we have some night racing in Bahrain, Singapore and Abu Dhabi; the circuit is quite well illuminated here, it’s not like maybe other endurance circuits, so I found no big issues there.
“It’s same with the traffic that I was a little bit afraid of; there are always some moments and some risk when you are overtaking cars here and there, or if they are fighting each other.
“But that’s a normal thing we will face, [and] it’s something we should be on top of for the race as well.”
The Daytona 24 Hours will take place across January 27/28.
