Alonso could compete for Toyota at Le Mans in 2018

©McLaren

Fernando Alonso could achieve one of his motor racing ambitions next year by taking part in the 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours.

Toyota says it's interested in talking with the McLaren driver about a possible race seat in the world endurance race. And McLaren has said it won't stand in the way if Alonso wants to do it.

"We are always interested in talking to top drivers," Toyota Gazoo Racing team director Rob Leupen told Motorsport.com. "But we cannot say anything more than that, because too much is open right now."

Alonso has already competed in the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500. Le Mans is the last of the classic 'Triple Crown' races for him to enter.

He missed the Monaco race this year in order to take part in the Indy 500. The clash of dates means a second Indy 500 is ruled out while Alonso remains in Formula 1

However Le Mans has no such scheduling issue next year. Nico Hulkenberg previously took part in the famous endurance race in 2015 while driving full time for Force India, and was part of the winning Porsche team at his first attempt.

If Alonso did take part, it certainly wouldn't be as part of a McLaren effort. While the team has expressed an interest in entering sports car racing in the future, it has no plans to do so in 2018.

Alonso wants more information before signing new contract

“I think Le Mans 2018 is too early for McLaren,” admitted McLaren executive director Zak Brown. "We have our hands full with getting our Formula 1 team back on track.

"But we have spoken about [Le Mans]. If it is something [Alonso] would like to do, in the right circumstances, we would be open to that," Brown said, adding: “It couldn’t compromise his Formula 1 racing programme."

Alonso has long-standing links with Toyota Motorsport GmbH through the manufacturer's technical director Pascal Vasselon. However, Toyota itself remains undecided about its future in LMP1 racing following Porsche's decision to pull out in July.

It's also unclear whether Alonso will still be at McLaren - or Formula 1 - in 2018. His current contract with the team expires at the end of this season. It hopes that the new engine deal just announced with Renault will persuade him to re-sign.

“We are very close with Fernando,” insisted Brown. “We had dinner last night. He is very happy with the direction of the team in general."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.