Alonso and his teammates in the #10 Cadillac DPi-V.R, Renger van der Zande, Kamui Kobayashi and Jordan Taylor, were the prime beneficiaries of the worsening weather at the Florida circuit, which resulted in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season opener being red-flagged a second time with just under two hours to run.

Following more than 90 minutes of inactivity, It was finally decided to abandon the race after 23 hours and 50 minutes, with efforts to clear standing water from the track proving fruitless.

Shortly before the stoppage, two-time Formula 1 champion Alonso had taken the lead from the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Felipe Nasr after the Brazilian ran wide at Turn 1.

That turned out to be the decisive move of the race, with ex-F1 racer Nasr, his new fulltime IMSA teammate Pipo Derani and Eric Curran being forced to settle for second.

Completing the podium was the #7 Acura ARX-05 of Helio Castroneves, Ricky Taylor and Alexander Rossi, which lacked the speed in the wet to challenge the leading Cadillacs in the final stages while IndyCar racer Rossi was at the wheel.

The arrival of rain overnight prompted an hour-long caution period, which was followed by the first red flag with a little more than seven hours left on the clock.

After an interruption of more than 90 minutes, racing resumed in a stop-start fashion as frequent caution periods were called amid various incidents in the treacherous conditions.

By this point, the race had boiled down to a contest between the WTR and #31 AXR Cadillacs and the two Penske-run Acuras, but the #6 car shared by Juan Pablo Montoya, Dane Cameron and Simon Pagenaud was ruled out of the fight with a loose oil pump belt in the 20th hour.

That promoted the CORE autosport Nissan DPi of Jon Bennett, Romain Dumas, Loic Duval and Colin Braun to fourth, although the #54 machine was four laps down on the leaders having suffered transmission problems shortly before half-distance.

A further three laps back in fifth place was the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac of Rubens Barrichello, Misha Goikhberg, Tristan Vautier and Devlin DeFrancesco.

Sixth place overall was the best of the LMP2 runners, the #18 DragonSpeed Oreca-Gibson of Roberto Gonzalez, Pastor Maldonado, Sebastian Saavedra and Ryan Cullen.

Saavedra appeared to have blown the #18 car’s chances when he suffered a heavy crash just before the red flags, but he was able to recover the stricken car to the pits to claim the win by four laps over the Performance Tech Oreca.

DragonSpeed’s other car, the #18 Oreca, had led the class for much of the race, but dropped out of contention when Henrik Hedman stopped out on track in the 22nd hour with a broken axle.

The #6 Acura ended up eighth and 17 laps down after its issues, ahead of the #5 Action Express Racing car of defending race winners of Joao Barbosa, Filipe Albuquerque and Christian Fittipaldi, who suffered a race to forget in his final Rolex 24 outing.

The Portuguese-speaking trio ended up ninth, 20 laps down, after a recurring issue with the rear lights that required a long trip behind the pitwall early on.

Mazda also suffered a double disaster with its pair of RT24-Ps, which both suffered reliability dramas within moments of each other before one-third distance.

The #77 car that Oliver Jarvis had qualified on pole dropped out with an engine failure, while the sister #55 car lost three laps with a fuel leak before finally bowing out after an incident involving a GT car in the early hours of the morning.

GTLM: BMW comes through to win chaotic race

A closely-fought GT Le Mans contest was won by the #25 BMW M8 GTE of Connor De Phillippi, Philipp Eng, Colton Herta and last-minute addition Augusto Farfus.

Six of the nine cars in class were still on the lead lap when the two leaders collided during a chaotic restart at Turn 1, as Frederic Makowiecki’s Porsche rear-ended Joey Hand’s Ford, effectively ruling both out of the fight.

That handed the advantage to the Risi Competizione Ferrari, but James Calado was passed by Farfus’s BMW shortly before the red flags came out for a second time, relegating Calado and teammates Alessandro Pier Guidi, Miguel Molina and Davide Rigon to second.

A pitstop for the #67 Ford just before the red flags dropped Richard Westbrook, Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe from the class lead to third.

That became fourth after the race, as a penalty for pitting under yellow dropped it behind the #912 Porsche of Earl Bamber, Mathieu Jaminet and Laurens Vanthoor, which was delayed near the end when Bamber spun and kept becoming wedged on the banking. He had to drive the wrong way around the track before finding a place to spin-turn.

Corvette Racing endured a miserable race in what could be the final Daytona appearance for the current-gen C7.R, with Tommy Milner aquaplaning the #4 car into the tyre wall early in the morning and the #3 car losing eight laps after stopping on track with an electrical problem.

Alex Zanardi’s #24 BMW was also removed from contention when the steering column was damaged in the pits on Saturday evening, before Jesse Krohn suffered a puncture overnight, necessitating a long trip to the garage.

Grasser Racing defended its 2018 GT Daytona class triumph, as Rolf Ineichen, Mirko Bortolotti, Christian Engelhart and Rik Breukers emerged on top in a frantic race-long battle in the #11 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 thanks in part to a late surge by Engelhart.

The #29 Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS survived multiple spins in the wet conditions late on to take second, while the final place on the podium went to the all-American-crewed #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

Luca Stolz threw away a potential win for the #33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 with a late spin that demoted the Wynn’s-liveried car to seventh in class.

2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona Results:</s>DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Wayne Taylor Racing’s No. 10 Konica Minolta DPi Cadillac driven by Jordan Taylor, Renger van der Zande, Kamui Kobayashi and Fernando Alonso won the 57th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona when IMSA deemed the event official after 23 hours and 50 minutes. The race was cut short after extensive rainfall caused some of the most extreme weather conditions ever seen at Daytona International Speedway.

Battling some of the worst conditions in the history of the event, F1 veterans Alonso and Kobayashi joined Taylor and van der Zande in giving Wayne Taylor Racing its second victory in the three years of the DPi formula.

Alonso earned his first Rolex Daytona Cosmograph in his second start in the event, seven months after taking the overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. He becomes the third F1 champion to win an endurance race at Daytona, joining Mario Andretti and Phil Hill, whose win in 1964 came in the 2,000-kilometer Daytona Continental road race.

“Just an amazing experience with the team from the test now to the race,” said Alonso, a two-time F1 champion and 32-time Grand Prix winner. “A perfect execution of the race. Very different conditions for all the competitors, so I’m really happy for the team.

"It’s too bad we didn’t get to race the full distance, but we led the race in night, day, dry and wet, so I think we all deserve this one. You had to survive every lap. It wasn’t a matter of lap times or anything like that. It was a matter of crossing the line, putting the lap together and at the end, it worked.”

Taylor also won the race in 2017 — with a lineup including NASCAR superstar Jeff Gordon, his brother Ricky and Max Angelelli — while van der Zande won for the first time.

“The closing hours were like a roller coaster in terms of highs and lows,” said car owner Wayne Taylor, who won as a driver in 1996, owner-driver in 2005, and owner in 2017 and 2019. “People will never be able to able to understand, and it’s impossible to explain what goes through my mind and my family, with all the efforts, the focus and vision we need to make this happen. The team is all like family.”

Steady rain began to fall at 6 a.m. ET and only got worse, leading to a number of caution periods and two red flags for the first time in the event’s history, first for an hour, 45 minutes on Sunday morning and a second and final time at 12:39 p.m. ET with 1 hour, 57 minutes remaining.

Moments before the final caution, Alonso took over the lead when Felipe Nasr went wide in Turn 1 in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R. The 17th caution came out four minutes later — followed six minutes later by the red flag that eventually ended the event.

Finishing second in DPi for the second straight year was the No. 31 Whelen Engineering DPi-V.R driven by Nasr, Eric Curran and Pipo Derani.

“This wasn’t racing, it was survival,” said Curran, who is transitioning to an endurance-only role for the team. “Cars were spinning off on every lap.”

Acura Team Penske took third, the last DPi car on the lead lap, with Ricky Taylor, Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi sharing the No. 7 Acura DPi.

Oliver Jarvis qualified on the pole in track record time in the No. 77 Mazda DPi, with Jonathan Bomarito a solid fourth. Both Mazdas ran in contention for many hours — battling the two Team Penske Acuras, the two Action Express Cadillacs and the eventual winner — before double disaster struck during the seventh hour. First, Olivier Pla came to a sudden stop in the No. 55 before taking the car to the garage to repair a fuel leak. Minutes later, Timo Bernhard came to a halt near the chicane when the engine compartment of the pole-winning car suddenly caught fire, forcing retirement from the event.

The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R attempted to win the race for the second consecutive year, which would have been the fourth Daytona 24 triumph for Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa. However, the team lost considerable ground in the early hours after a visit to the garage to repair the tail lights. The pair, joined by Filipe Albuquerque, scrapped their way back to finish ninth overall and seventh in class. It marked the end of a standout career for Fittipaldi.

Also frustrated in a bid for a fourth Rolex 24 triumph was Juan Pablo Montoya. Joined by Dane Cameron and Simon Pagenaud, the team ran in podium contention all the way to the 20th hour, when an oil pump failure sidelined the No. 6 Acura DPi.

The No. 18 DragonSpeed ORECA, which Sebastian Saavedra had crashed with minutes to go before the red flag flew, took the LMP2 class win and sixth overall with Saavedra, Roberto Gonzalez and Pastor Maldonado. In driving rain, Saavedra’s crash badly damaged the car, but the team had a four-lap gap that likely would not be overcome by Kyle and Robert Masson, Cameron Cassels and Kris Wright in the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA.

In GTLM, Augusto Farfus took the lead one lap before the final caution to earn an emotional win in GTLM in the No. 25 Team RLL BMW M8 GTE co-driven by Connor De Phillippi, Philipp Eng and Colton Herta. The victory comes days after the sudden death of Karl ‘Charly’ Lamm, the longtime leader of BMW Team Schnitzer.

The GTD class win went to Rolf Ineichen, Mirko Bortolotti, Christian Engelhart and Rik Breukers in the No. 11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for the second straight Rolex 24.

The opening 15 and a half hours were run in cloudy and chilly conditions, with precipitation expected for the closing hours. But the rain came early. An extended caution at 6 a.m. was followed by a one-hour, 45-minute red flag at 7:21 a.m. An attempt to restart the event was quickly aborted following a multi-car incident in the trioval. That led to another extended caution for one hour, 40 minutes.

With conditions bad and expected to get even worse, throwing the checkered flag with a scheduled three hours remaining might have been a popular move. But that was not an option. Drivers cinched their belts for a thrilling — and treacherous — hour of racing before continued conditions made racing impossible.</s>Mazda Team Joest started on pole with its No. 77 Mazda RT24-P DPi and was immediately pitted against the No. 7 Acura Team Penske car as they lined up together on the front row. Early hours of the race saw the two manufacturers swapping positions while simultaneously battling off the charging Cadillacs.

Wayne Taylor Racing proved its strength and endurance to win the rain-plagued 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona. Drivers Fernando Alonso, Kamui Kobayashi , Jordan Taylor, and Renger van der Zande withstood the adverse conditions and outlasted their Prototype class counterparts on their way to standing atop the podium on Sunday afternoon.

LMP2 ran close with the four global spec Oreca 07 Gibsons lined up at the beginning. With identical equipment, the class would be a story of strategy and driver performance. Forced to deal with the heavy traffic created by the other classes, all of the entries spread out and battled with other prototypes as well as GT cars rather early. Slightly further back in the field, Porsche led GT Le Mans from the initial green flag. Yet again, the nine-car class was competitive with each team spending their share of time in P1. Risi Competizione, the expected backmarker crew without major factory support, mixed it up with its No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTE from the beginning and into the night. Each team swapped rivals periodically as Ford Chip Ganassi and Corvette also showed their endurance expertise early on.

Lap times were rapid in the first handful of hours with drivers fresh and conditions exceptional. The top Prototype entries laid down consistent one-minute, 35-second times and showed extreme speed dipping into the 1:34s. Each of the top four overall finishers completed at least one lap in that range, the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi V.R setting a fastest time of the race at 1:34.504—within a second of the pole time and track record. Before midnight, attrition had already begun. Mazda Team Joest's race abruptly turned nightmarish when its No. 55 DPi headed to the garage for repairs and the pole-winning No. 77 was forced to retire. The latter dropped out of contention for the lead and relinquished its fighting spirit to the outfit's remaining entry, though an eventual decision to pull the plug after lost time repairing the car resulted in a double retirement.

Fernando Alonso displayed his versatility in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac by putting his team in the lead and building a significant gap to second place. The two-time Formula 1 world champion became the story of the night while Cadillac ran 1-2 into the 13th hour. GTLM leader Antonio Garcia dramatically ran his No. 4 Corvette C7.R out of fuel on the way to pit lane, forcing the eighth caution period of the race near its halfway point. It was then that Risi Competizione and BMW Team RLL started to establish themselves at the top of GT Le Mans, though the state of the race changed completely in the following hours.

Not to be overshadowed, GT Daytona was also putting on a performance that has become expected of the competitive pro-am category. The No. 33 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Riley Motorsports had, at that point, fended off the No. 63 Ferrari of Scuderia Corsa to stay atop the largest class on the grid.

Jumping forward to 5 a.m. Sunday, rain stole the show away from the close action we had seen in both the daylight and the dark. Standing water accumulated over the next two hours and teams began to sweat. Intense moments on-track and on the pit wall were evident as drivers began to tire, this coming after racing for nearly 18 hours. It was at approximately 7:30 a.m. that IMSA decided to call for the red flag and cars were parked on pit lane for the foreseeable future. This delay held strong while the clock continued to tick, running over two hours off the total scheduled time of 24.</s>Fernando Alonso deftly maneuvered through some of the most dangerous driving conditions of his career to grab another victory in a bucket-list event.

Alonso drove a Cadillac DPi to the front of the field in each of his three stints in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, including the final pass for the lead in a heavy rain, on a slick track, with almost no visibility. The race was red-flagged minutes after Alonso put Wayne Taylor Racing out front, and IMSA pulled the plug about two hours later.

The decision to call the race came 10 minutes before the scheduled conclusion and marked the first time rain prevented the Rolex from going the full 24 hours. It also was the first time in race history the event was stopped twice for red flags for rain.

Alonso was sitting under a blanket on the Taylor pit stand when the race was called.

"It's too bad we didn't get to race the full distance, but we led the race in night, day, dry, wet, so I think we all kind of deserve this one," he said.

Alonso joined Phil Hill (1964) and Mario Andretti (1972) as F1 champions who also won the most prestigious sports car event in North America. Alonso, who has two F1 titles, retired from that series in November.

The Spaniard now has won the Rolex, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Monaco Grand Prix. The next big event on his schedule is the Indianapolis 500 in May, the one victory he needs to complete auto racing's unofficial version of the Triple Crown.

Wayne Taylor Racing now has four overall Rolex victories. The team won in 1996 and 2005 with team owner Wayne Taylor driving, and Jeff Gordon was part of its 2017 victory. The team this year brought in Alonso and Kamui Kobayashi, teammates on the Le Mans victory last June, to join full-time drivers Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande. Jordan Taylor was part of the winning team two years ago.

Alex Zanardi's return to a North American race for the first time since his legs were severed in a 2001 crash was hampered by mechanical problems, including an early electrical issue with the BMW-designed steering wheel that allowed the Italian to race without his prosthetic legs.

Zanardi used the wheel to accelerate, brake, shift and communicate with the car. Even though the Bobby Rahal-owned team finished 18 laps down in the GT Le Mans class, the venture was a success. Zanardi drove three times totaling 6 hours, 17 minutes; his final stint was disrupted by the heavy rain at daybreak.

"He shows very clearly that life isn't over and you can still go out and live and do whatever it is you want," Rahal said.

Rahal's second BMW M8 entry won the GTLM class with Augsto Farfus, Connor De Phillippi, Phillipp Eng and Colton Herta.

The LMP2 class was won by the No. 18 DragonSpeed Oreca with drivers Roberto Gonzalez, Pastor Maldonado, Sebastian Saavedra and Ryan Cullen, while the No. 11 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan won the GT Daytona class for the second consecutive year with Rolf Ineichen, Mirko Bortolotti, Christian Englehart and Rik Breukers.

Alonso, meanwhile, was the heavyweight in the Wayne Taylor lineup and dazzled every time he got into the Cadillac. He competed in the Rolex last year as a warmup for Le Mans but returned this time intent on winning the Rolex watch. His first time in the rotation Saturday night was a triple stint in which he took the lead away from both of Roger Penske's Acura entries.

He drove again early Sunday morning and had the car out front for a lengthy yellow period that ultimately ended in the first stoppage for rain since 2004.

Alonso got the car back one final time to close out the race and took the lead when Felipe Nasr missed a turn and drove through a deep patch of water. Alonso stayed on course to move to the point, and when IMSA brought the cars to pit road minutes later under red, he walked under an umbrella to IMSA's pace car and leaned inside the open door to discuss the conditions with the driver.

Alonso then joined his teammates in the pits to await IMSA's decision.

"It was a very difficult race. The conditions were quite a shock sometimes," Alonso said. "You had to survive every lap. It wasn't a matter of lap times or anything like that. It was a matter of crossing the line, putting the lap together and at the end, it worked."</s>Fernando Alonso earned his first Rolex 24 crown Sunday after leading his No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi team to victory at Daytona International Speedway.

Alonso, a two-time Formula 1 champion, was joined by teammates Jordan Taylor, Renger van der Zande and Kamui Kobayashi and they took a clear lead right before the 22-hour mark, pulling away from No. 31 Action Express Racing’s Felix Nasr after he ran wide at Turn 1.

"Just an amazing experience — perfect execution for the race," Alonso said, per BBC. "We were competitive in everything — dry, wet, night, day."

Alonso, who made his debut in the Daytona race last year and finished 38th, became just the third F1 champion to win the Rolex 24 at Daytona after Phil Hill and Mario Andretti, BBC notes.

The 24-hour race ended a few minutes early due to poor weather conditions and was red flagged twice because of rain. The majority of the final eight hours was run under a yellow flag. The results were determined after 23 hours and 10 minutes.

Nasr and his team finished second, while Alexander Rossi's team in the No. 7 Acura DPi finished third.</s>MIAMI, Jan 28 — Two-time Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso sparked his team to victory yesterday in the rain-hit 24 Hours of Daytona.

The 37-year-old added the epic US endurance event to a list of career achievements that includes 32 F1 race wins and world titles in 2005 and 2006.

“Amazing. Just an amazing experience from the test and perfect execution for the race,” Alonso said. “We were competitive in everything — dry, wet, night, day.”

Alonso got his first taste of endurance racing last year at Daytona, struggling with mechanical problems to finish 38th overall, but he went on to win last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

This year, Alonso drove the winning car into Daytona’s Victory Lane, celebrated with a Spanish flag draped over his shoulders and pondered where the victory fits among his career highlights.

“I think it will rank very high,” Alonso said. “To win endurance races in iconic places like Daytona is great. I haven’t been doing this very long. I’ve been in the right place at the right moment so I’m happy for that.”

Alonso spent this weekend in the No. 10 Cadillac DPi-V.R. for Wayne Taylor Racing that started sixth on Saturday afternoon with co-drivers Kamui Kobayashi, American Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande.

“I’m really happy for these guys,” he said.

Alonso will try to join Britain’s Graham Hill as the only racers to win the Triple Crown of the Monaco Grand Prix, 24 Hours of Le Mans and Indianapolis 500 when he competes in the latter on May 26.

The Spaniard helped move the Taylor car to the front early and Kobayashi’s overnight work helped keep it in front when rains struck early yesterday, leaving cars skidding and spraying water in unsafe conditions.

The key pass came when Brazil’s Felipe Nasr skidded out of the lead on a turn in the morning rain and Alonso kept his composure and stayed in front until the race was halted, never to restart after an unprecedented second red flag for rain.

At 2.25pm (1925 GMT, 3.25am Monday, Malaysia Time), 10 minutes early due to the soggy conditions, the checkered flag flew and Alonso could celebrate being a Le Mans and Daytona endurance king.

South African car owner Taylor knew it was time to stop when he heard Alonso on the radio trying to hang on.

“Fernando Alonso is probably one of the greatest guys I’ve ever known,” Taylor said. “When he came on the radio and was talking in fear, I realized they were doing the right thing (to stop racing).”

Taylor enjoyed his US sons each making the podium, Jordan for the winners and Ricky in third.

“Normally I’d be in a bad mood about this (rain) but I’m trying to be in a positive mood. To have both my kids in the top three is pretty amazing,” Taylor said.

Hours of early morning rain spelled doom for the hopes of Alonso’s nearest rivals.

The race was halted with Alonso’s car ahead of US racer Eric Curran and Brazilian drivers Nasr and Pipo Derani.

“This is the worst racing conditions ever. This is not racing anymore. This is survival,” Curran said.

“I don’t want to see a bunch of cars get wrecked and anybody get hurt. It’s miserable. You’re focused on keeping the car on the track instead of racing.”

“I’ve never seen a race like this,” said octogenarian race team owner Roger Penske, whose Acura car sat in third, with Indianapolis 500 winners Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi and Taylor’s son Ricky behind the wheel.

Alonso’s remaining 2019 schedule includes the 1,000 miles of Sebring on March 15 and the 6 Hours of Spa on May 4 before his bid to win the Indy 500.

He will close the campaign in June at Le Mans, the 2018-19 World Endurance Championship season finale. — AFP</s>Fernando Alonso is the third Formula One champion to win the prestigious 24-hour race in Daytona.

Fernando Alonso added another honour to his impressive list with a Rolex 24 triumph in Daytona on Sunday.

The two-time Formula One champion was part of the a No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi team which won a rain-affected race at Daytona International Speedway.

Alonso, who quit F1 at the end of last season, Jordan Taylor, Renger van der Zande and Kamui Kobayashi took a clear lead before the 22-hour mark, pulling away from No. 31 Action Express Racing’s Felix Nasr after he ran wide at Turn 1.

The 24-hour race ended a few minutes early due to poor weather conditions, having been red-flagged twice because of rain. The majority of the final eight hours was run under a yellow flag.

“Just an amazing experience — perfect execution for the race,” Alonso said, “We were competitive in everything — dry, wet, night, day.”

The Spaniard, who made his debut in the Daytona race last year and finished 38th, became just the third F1 champion to win the Rolex 24 at Daytona after Phil Hill and Mario Andretti.

Nasr and his team finished second, while Alexander Rossi’s team in the No. 7 Acura DPi were third.</s>Fernando Alonso put Wayne Taylor Racing out in front of the Rolex 24 by 15 seconds at Daytona Race as he starts his season away from Formula 1. (3:26)

Fernando Alonso has added the Rolex 24 Hours to his growing list of race victories outside of Formula One, after driving as part of the winning team at the Daytona International Speedway this weekend.

Alonso joined teammates Jordan Taylor, Renger van der Zande and Kamui Kobayashi in the No.10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, taking overall victory in the DPi class. The race was plagued by rain storms from 05:00 in the morning and was stopped for good due to heavy rain with two hours remaining.

When the race was red flagged, Alonso was on track and leading ahead of fellow former F1 driver Felipe Nasr in the No.31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac. The No.7 Team Penske Acura -- at that point piloted by another ex-F1 driver, Alexander Rossi -- was also on the lead lap and finished third in the final standings.

Just prior to the stoppage, Alonso and Nasr had been engaged in a thrilling battle for the lead as heavy rain fell on track. Alonso had taken over the No.10 car from Taylor just after the 21-hour mark and was putting pressure on Nasr as the conditions worsened.

The slightest mistake had the potential to be very costly, and after holding Alonso off for a series of laps in green flag conditions, Nasr finally succumbed to the pressure and locked up under braking heading into Turn 1. From his position one second behind Nasr, Alonso watched the identical Cadillac sail wide and into the run-off area before taking the lead that he would hold until the race was stopped.

Had Nasr not made the mistake, he would have likely won the race as a full-course yellow came soon after and normal racing did not resume before the final red flag with one hour and 55 minutes left on the clock. Alonso also impressed earlier in the race when he climbed from seventh place to the lead in his opening stint before put in some impressive lap times in wet conditions overnight.

The result represents Alonso's first major race victory since leaving F1 at the end of the year and his second 24-hour race victory in the space of a year, following his Le Mans victory last June. Alonso has his sights set on motorsport's triple crown - which requires victories at Le Mans, the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indy 500 - and will race at Indianapolis in May to try to complete the set. However, Daytona has also been a personal goal for Alonso, who made his debut at the race last year in the LMP2 category for United Autosports.

Another former F1 driver, Pastor Maldonado, was part of the winning team in this year's LMP2 category, taking victory alongside teammates Roberto Gonzalez, Sebastian Saavedra and Ryan Cullen.</s>DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Fernando Alonso deftly maneuvered through some of the most dangerous driving conditions of his career to grab another victory in a bucket-list event.

Alonso drove a Cadillac DPi to the front of the field in each of his three stints in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, including the final pass for the lead in a heavy rain, on a slick track, with almost no visibility. His final pass was of Felipe Nasr, who missed a turn and drove through a deep patch of water as Alonso stayed on course.

The race was red-flagged minutes after Alonso gave the lead to him and his teammates at Wayne Taylor Racing (Jordan Taylor, Kamui Kobayashi of Japan and Renger Van Der Zande of the Netherlands). IMSA called the race about two hours later.

The decision came 10 minutes before the scheduled conclusion; it was the first time rain prevented the Rolex from going the full 24 hours. It was also the first time the event was stopped twice for red flags for rain.</s>Two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso won the rain-shortened 24 Hours of Daytona, overhauling Felipe Nasr two laps from the eventual finish on Sunday.

The Spaniard became only the third Formula One champion to win the race, joining Phil Hill (1964) and Mario Andretti (1972).

Already the winner of last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, he will attempt to complete the Triple Crown of racing by capturing the Indy 500 in May.

Alonso, driving the Wayne Taylor Cadillac DPI, took command when Nasr failed to navigate turn one and drove into deep water, losing a 1.5-second advantage. By the time Nasr had things under control, Alonso was 12 seconds ahead.

Kamui Kobayashi, Jordan Taylor and Renger vanDer Zande teamed up with Alonso for the victory in his second try in the 24-hour race which was twice red-flagged because of rain and water on the track and was halted 10 minutes early.

“With all the rain, I’ve never seen a race like this,” team boss Roger Penske told NBCSN.

Alexander Rossi was the only other driver to finish in the lead lap. He took third.
In motorsport, the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race is won by the #10 Cadillac of Wayne Taylor Racing. Drivers Fernando Alonso, Jordan Taylor, Kamui Kobayashi, and Renger van der Zande are declared the winners after heavy rain forces the race to be halted for the final two hours.