Anticipation continues to build for Fernando Alonso’s debut on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, with his maiden test set for Wednesday in the jointly entered McLaren, Honda and Andretti Autosport car.
Alonso, who was en route to the U.S. earlier this week after failing to start the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi, has posted a couple Instagram pictures of note.
The first is his surname on an avenue in Indianapolis; near the track, drivers expected to compete in this year’s 101st Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil all have their own street names. “Alonso Avenue” is linked below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTkDmreF3_Z/?taken-by=fernandoalo_oficial
Today, the buildup saw Alonso tease most, but not all, of his Bell helmet for this year’s Indianapolis 500. He posted portions of it on his Instagram story, and then combined all of those into one picture.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTmZnbklWwD/?taken-by=fernandoalo_oficial
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has also announced Alonso’s test, set from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, will be live streamed. In a late addition, it will be on the NBC Sports App as well as the below details.
Details from an IMS release are below:
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A fully produced live show will be televised online from 9:30 a.m.-noon, with an announcing team of 1969 Indianapolis 500 winner and 1978 Formula One World Champion Mario Andretti and NBC Sports Network’s Verizon IndyCar Series talent Kevin Lee and Robin Miller. Coverage of the test will continue from 1-5 p.m. with a live stream without commentary.
Both the live show and stream will be available at these online outlets:
- Indycar.com
- IMS.com
- IndyCar YouTube
- IndyCar Facebook
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Alonso’s No. 29 Honda and livery will be revealed in the morning on social media, per an Andretti Autosport team representative, before the test occurs.
And before Alonso gets in the car, Marco Andretti will shake the car down. Andretti told NBC Sports at Phoenix how he got selected for the opportunity.
“It’ll be fun,” he said. “They know I can get up to speed; I’m always sort of the one picked to do that kind of thing. Basically, I’ll make sure he has a real comfortable balance for his first run.”
Andretti will be coming from today’s one-day open test in Madison, Ill., just outside St. Louis, at Gateway Motorsports Park where he and most of the full field is testing today.