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Fernando Alonso to race in 101st Indianapolis 500 with McLaren, Andretti

Two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso will miss this year’s Monaco Grand Prix to take part in the 101st Indianapolis 500 as part of a joint entry between McLaren, Honda and Andretti Autosport.

Alonso has previously expressed an interest in racing in the 500, but was announced on Wednesday as a shock entry for the race at the end of May, becoming the sixth Andretti-backed car entered.

“I’m immensely excited that I’ll be racing in this year’s Indy 500, with McLaren, Honda and Andretti Autosport,” Alonso said in a statement.

“The Indy 500 is one of the most famous races on the global motorsport calendar, rivalled only by the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Monaco Grand Prix, and it’s of course a regret of mine that I won’t be able to race at Monaco this year. But Monaco will be the only 2017 Grand Prix I’ll be missing, and I’ll be back in the cockpit of the McLaren-Honda MCL32 for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in early June.

“I’ve never raced an IndyCar car before, and neither have I ever driven on a superspeedway, but I’m confident that I’ll get to grips with it fast. I’ve watched a lot of IndyCar action on TV and online, and it’s clear that great precision is required to race in close proximity with other cars on the far side of 220 mph.

“I realize I’ll be on a steep learning curve, but I’ll be flying to Indianapolis from Barcelona immediately after the Spanish Grand Prix, practising our McLaren-Honda-Andretti car at Indy from May 15 onwards, hopefully clocking up a large number of miles every day, and I know how good the Andretti Autosport guys are. I’ll be proud to race with them, and I intend to mine their knowledge and expertise for as much info as I possibly can.”

Andretti IndyCar chief Michael Andretti added: “It’s a great honor to partner with McLaren for the 101st Running of the Indianapolis 500 and to bring Fernando into one of our Andretti Autosport Hondas. I want to thank Zak [Brown, McLaren executive director], Honda and McLaren for this tremendous opportunity.

“We’ve been working very closely in the planning of this new partnership and I believe we’ve laid the foundation for a successful month of May. We’re looking forward to giving Fernando an effort in reaching one of his biggest career goals of winning the Indy 500.

“Fernando’s lack of experience on superspeedways is not of concern to me. I do believe that the Indianapolis 500 is one of the best places for a rookie to start because there is the opportunity for so much practice time on the track - and, as we have demonstrated, it can be won by a rookie. Fernando is a great talent and I have full confidence that he will represent very strongly for McLaren, Honda and Andretti Autosport.

“Fernando’s addition to the team takes our stable of entries to six, working in a cooperative effort. This sharing of experience and knowledge is what makes Andretti Autosport stand out and gives us that extra competitive edge.”

McLaren has won the Indy 500 on two occasions before, back in 1974 and 1976 with Johnny Rutherford, and its 2017 entry will hark back to that as Brown confirmed the McLaren-Honda-Andretti entry will be “decked out in the papaya orange livery made famous by our founder Bruce McLaren, and in which Rutherford drove McLaren IndyCars to Indy 500 victory”.

By missing Monaco, Alonso has opened up a seat at McLaren for the street race, which the team said it will fill “in due course”. This is likely to be taken by reserve driver Jenson Button, who stepped back from full-time racing at the end of last year.

Follow @LukeSmithF1