Two-time Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso will test Toyota's Dakar rally car on three different continents over the next few months as he prepares for his next major target in motorsport.
Alonso left Formula One at the end of 2018 to pursue new challenges and is about to embark on perhaps his toughest yet as he prepares for an entry to the 2020 Dakar Rally.
The legendary rally raid competition was established in 1978 and originally ran between Paris and Dakar before security concerns in Mauritania in 2008 saw it switch to South America. Next year, it will take place in Saudi Arabia in January, and Alonso, who has no competitive rallying experience and got his first taste of Toyota's Dakar-spec Hilux in the Kalahari Desert in March, will undertake an intense training programme ahead of the event.