He tackled the Florida classic twice more, finishing second in a Jaguar XJR-12 in 1990 with Nielsen and Price Cobb, and fourth in 2011 in a United Autosports Riley MkXX Daytona Prototype with Mark Blundell, Zak Brown and Mark Patterson.
The 58-year-old Grand Prix veteran-turned award-winning TV commentator and analyst, who went on to lift the World Sportscar Championship at the end of that 1988 season, and win the Le Mans 24 Hours two years later, is well qualified to point out the peculiarities and pitfalls faced by Formula 1 star Fernando Alonso when he tackles the race for the first time this weekend with, appropriately enough, United Autosports.
“I love the fact that Fernando Alonso, in many people’s book the best driver in the world, is doing Daytona. It’s another feather in his cap after the Indianapolis 500 deal last May. That was incredible and, to be honest, I wasn’t sure it would happen. I was very pleased that [McLaren boss] Zak [Brown], who I raced with in my third and final outing at Daytona, and Fernando proved me wrong.
“The Indy thing proved beyond any doubt that he still loves to race. And I admire that old-school enthusiasm – it doesn’t matter what it is or where it is, as long as it’s at a high level and he can be competitive, of course (Goodwood Revival next, Martin?!). There isn’t much baggage in his life, so why not try these things? He just doesn’t seem precious about it all, does he?
“Fernando’s performance at Indy was sensational, unsurprisingly you might say. He embraced it, learned the technique very quickly and led the race, with a fairytale result tantalisingly close. It was all a bit Jim Clark, wasn’t it – missing the Monaco Grand Prix to try it? And I think the IndyCar guys thought it was all pretty cool, too. The PR generated from it was sensational. It painted everyone in a good light: F1, Fernando, McLaren, Indy. It was the same when Nico Hulkenberg went off and won Le Mans with Porsche in the middle of the F1 season.