Daytona 24 Hours limited use for Alonso's Le Mans bid - Fisichella

Alonso will take on his first top-level endurance race in next year's IMSA SportCar Championship opener at Daytona as part of a long-term preparation strategy for tackling Le Mans - which is an element of his personal 'triple crown' bid alongside F1's Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500.

"It's not part of the triple crown but, as I have always said, my aim is to be a complete driver and this experience will help me in the preparation for any other endurance race I might take part in," he said of Daytona, which he will contest with United Autosports.

Fisichella, who was Alonso's Renault F1 team-mate in 2005 and '06, has competed at Daytona six times, taking a podium once, and has taken GTE Le Mans class victories twice.

When asked if it would be a case of Alonso only learning so much from Daytona, Fisichella told Autosport: "Yes, exactly."

He said Daytona is fundamentally different to Le Mans and that it will not prepare him fully for the World Endurance Championship's flagship event.

"It's a different circuit and different type of race," Fisichella said.

"Especially with the rules, safety cars and yellow flags, slow zones.

"Everything is different.

"At Daytona, it is really important to be on the lead lap until the last couple of hours and then it's a real race.

"Le Mans is different. It's important to gain an advantage as soon as you can from the beginning to the end."

Fisichella highlighted that learning how to drive in multi-class racing will be Alonso's biggest challenge.

"It's really good to know about Alonso being there and it's very good for motorsport, especially for the IMSA championship," he said.

"Alonso is a great driver and he will learn very quickly to drive the car.

"The only problem will be the traffic with the GT cars and the slower cars and he needs to learn how to manage it, but he will get a chance to in the next test for sure."