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Alonso restored into Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans after early retirement

Fernando Alonso at the 24 Hours of Le Mans

Fernando Alonso was restored into the Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans after "a combination between human error and a game glitch" forced him to retire during the early running on Saturday.

Former Formula One drivers Alonso and Rubens Barrichello joined forces for the event, which is taking place due to the coronavirus pandemic forcing the postponement of the real race until September.

Their FA/RB AllInSports number 14 entry stopped on track after a penalty for a collision was imposed when the Spaniard entered the pit lane, meaning he ran out of fuel.

In a video posted on Twitter, Alonso said: "So, here we are - not the [Le Mans] 24 Hours virtual that we were hoping for.

"I think a combination between human error and a game glitch put us in a bad situation.

"I think the race directors gave us a penalty when we were on the pit lane, which is a little bit unusual, and the game doesn't allow you to block that penalty - to serve it a lap later, at least to put [in] fuel.

"So it serves the penalty but doesn't put [in] any fuel or tyres, so we didn't have fuel for the following lap.

"That glitch and probably that penalty when we were on the pit lane was not expected for anyone.

"Unfortunately not the race we were hoping for, and we did I think good preparations, so we will have fun on the next 24.

"Let's see if we can choose another race soon with this super team and let's enjoy."

However, a technical issue meant the servers had to be restarted and the race was red-flagged.

Alonso's team were subsequently put back into the field with more than 18 and a half hours of racing remaining.

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