Alonso explains car problems at Daytona

Fernando Alonso has bemoaned the various car issues which hampered his ability to finish in the top five in the Daytona 24 Hours, taking to Instagram to outline the problems he faced.

The Spaniard believed that the United Autosports Ligier was in contention to finish in the top five positions, but a combination of braking problems and a puncture left the car 26 laps off the pace.

Alonso eventually had to return the car to pits to replace a brake master cylinder, but by that stage the car had fallen to 22nd place overall, leading the former F1 world champion to take to Instagram in order to explain what had taken place.

The puncture had occurred with fellow driver Phil Hanson behind the wheel, and Alonso stated: "Unlucky situation with Phil; we had a puncture just before I jumped in the car. We lost four laps there with some damage on the car.

"But my stints were good. We had a little bit of pace at night, the car felt much better. Also we had the safety car and managed to recover two laps, so we were in contention for the top five probably. We were P6 already.

"And we had a brake issue and we had to put the car in the garage. Obviously the positions are compromised, we are losing a lot of laps, so that's a shame.

"We will try our best until the last lap."

Paul Di Resta is behind the wheel of the other United Autosports car, which is up to sixth position.