Alonso back on track after Morocco Rally crash

After a strong early showing and making it into the top ten at the end of Stage 2 despite punctures, with Alonso at the wheel and co-driver Marc Coma in the passenger seat the Toyota Hilux crashed when it hit a hole and the team was forced to retire the car.

They were around 75km into the stage when the incident occurred. Comas and Alonso were unharmed, while the team managed to repair the damaged front wheel for the Spaniard to continue his training on day four of the event.

The section where Alonso crashed was notorious on the day and claimed several more experienced competitors including his teammate Bernhard Ten Brinke who also damaged his Toyota.

Ahead of the event in north Africa, Alonso told media of his participation, "It may be an important moment. It will be eight or nine car days and many kilometres, many more than I have done so far.

"The clearest and most concrete idea of how I feel and whether or not I want [to race the Dakar] will be after Morocco. I'm getting into a totally different world, in a land they know very well. Morocco is to them what Barcelona is to us. They do all the tests there.

"I know that I will not be at the level of the best, but at the same time, I hope to continue learning, complete many kilometres and see what feelings I have.

"Everyone has told me that it is unforgettable to spend so many days in the desert, to have to do your own repairs sometimes, to live the race 'in the wild', without the precision or even the comforts of F1. But the objective in terms of competitiveness I can't say, because I have no references," added the man from Oviedo.

Meanwhile, in Morocco, Alonso was grateful to the Gazoo crew for repairing his damaged car enabling to continue the experience gathering exercise which.

At the end of Tuesday's stage, the Spaniard Tweeted: "Another Top 10 today for us and keep discovering new challenges every day. Fun day and happy with the progress. Marc Coma was superb on tricky navigation! Thanks."