Brown writes off Alonso's chances of Daytona win

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McLaren executive director and United Autosports boss Zak Brown doesn't think much of Fernando Alonso's chances of winning this weekend's Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.

"There is some strong competition," Brown said. "I think on ultimate pace we will be a little bit off."

But the shortfall certainly won't be down to the Spaniard's driving ability, he was quick to add.

"Fernando is here to win - we are all here to win - but you have to be realistic," he acknowledged. "It would be misleading if I said we have the same chance as Cadillac and Acura, because we don't.

"A top-five or a podium," he added when asked what his most realistic objective for Alonso and team mates Lando Norris and Phil Hanson. "I don't expect to leave with any [winners'] watches.

"Among the LMP2 cars we have got a disadvantage to the ORECA," he pointed out. "And the Daytona Prototype international cars always excel around here."

Norris agreed with Brown's assessment that United was behind the pace so far.

"At this rate, we're going to need something – basically, anything," Norris told RACER magazine. "At the moment we're struggling a lot. We're not really improving too much.

"Straight-line speed we're down on everyone else," he explained. "I don't think it's because of the engine, but the aerokit seems quite inefficient. We're struggling a lot with the car in the first sector with traction and over the bumps."

McLaren's Brown labels Newgarden and Dixon worthy of F1

Even so, Alonso qualified the Ligier in 13th place for this weekend's endurance race. He described it as "probably the least important qualifying of my life until now" because of the race length.

The two-time world champion admitted that he was still letting the whole Daytona experience sink.

“It still surprises me," he said. "The venue, the speedway, every morning when I come here.

"You pass around the grandstand from the outside and it’s just the size of everything is huge.

"People are ready to enjoy the event," he noted. "They are ready to spend 24 hours here enjoying and watching cars."

Last year Alonso took part in the Indianapolis 500 Mile race, but that's barely a sprint event compared to what awaits him in Daytona.

“I think it’s impossible to plan in advance and it’s impossible to have an idea of how it will go," he said.

"[For the Indy 500] we had the race in our minds, in our heads, before entering the start," he said. By comparison, he said that Daytona would require more of an "open-minded philosophy [and] flexible strategy."

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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.