24 Hour Le Mans Fernando Alonso proud of ‘legend’ Robert Kubica for Ferrari win

MONTREAL — Fernando Alonso labelled Sunday a “good day for motorsport” after former Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica won the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Kubica, who’s promising F1 career was cut short by a rally crash in 2011, was part of Ferrari’s winning outfit on Sunday.

When he suffered his career-altering injury, Kubica had signed a deal to join Ferrari’s Formula 1 team — which would have made him Alonso’s teammate at the time, but the move never happened.

“I’m very happy for him,” said Alonso, who won the famous endurance race in 2018 and 2019 with Toyota. “We talked a few times about how special that races and he deserves, to experience that… he’s a legend of our sport, and now he’s even more after winning Le Mans in his career.

“You know some of the pain that he went through with the accident and things like that, I think, today is a very happy day for motorsport.”

“So happy for him, I will call him tomorrow. I didn’t want to disturb today! He will be celebrating, but extremely happy. I’m proud of him.”

Fittingly, Kubica’s win came in tandem with the event which hosted both his best and worst moments in Formula 1.

At the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, Kubica walked away from an enormous crash with a concussion and sprained ankle.

A year later, he claimed his maiden F1 win in Montreal — a result he never replicated again.

Before taking part in the Canadian GP, Alonso had retweeted a post about him and the Pole being the only drivers to win an F1 race and Le Mans this century.

Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg is the only other Le Mans 24 Hours winner on the F1 grid.

Source: espn.com