Fehan, Alonso, McNish to be honored

Fernando Alonso, double Formula 1 World Champion, winner of 32 out of 221 grand prix and a Scuderia Ferrari driver since 2010, will be entrusted with giving the start to the 82nd Le Mans 24 Hours on 14th June at 15h00.

It is an immense honour for the Automobile Club de l’Ouest that this great champion, recently described by the Ferrari President, Luca di Montezemolo, as the greatest driver in the world, has accepted this invitation. Alonso is a true motor racing fan and although he has never taken part in the Le Mans 24 Hours, he is very interested in the greatest endurance race in the world. This honorary role for the Spaniard encouraged by his current employer also shows the strong links that exist between the ACO and Ferrari whose 458 Italias will be out to clinch more victories in the LM GTE Pro and GTE AM categories this year.

In the history of the event Fernando Alonso, who finished fourth at last Monaco Grand Prix, is the first driver currently racing to give the start of the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Allan McNish three-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours (1998, 2008 and 2013) in 14 starts since 1997, reigning FIA World Endurance Champion, and former rival of Alonso’s in Formula 1, will be the Grand Marshal of the 2014 Le Mans 24 hours.

The Scot who scored his first Le Mans 24-Hours victory at the wheel of the last Porsche to win the race outright, and his last at the wheel of an Audi last year, will be the ambassador of the 82nd event.

McNish, who retired from racing at the end of 2013, will, among other jobs, drive the leading car, the official vehicle which leads the cars round on the formation lap, and he will pull off at the end of it giving Alonso the pleasure of unleashing the field!

Doug Fehan (in photo), manager of the competitions programme of Corvette Racing, which has won in GT seven times at Le Mans since 2001, is the heart and soul of the competitions branch of American giant, General Motors. Since Corvette’s return to racing in 1999 the American has run this team with fieriness and passion. The US make has racked up 92 victories in endurance (82 in the American Le Mans Series, 7 at Le Mans, 1 at Daytona and 2 this season in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship) plus 10 manufacturers’ and teams’ championship titles in the American Le Mans Series and 9 drivers’ titles.

Fehan is a tireless ambassador for the Le Mans 24 Hours and is viscerally attached to this event about which he talks with a matchless passion. He will be awarded the Spirit of Le Mans on Friday evening 13th June by President Pierre Fillon, a prize given by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest to all those who have served the spirit of Le Mans.

A.C.O.