World Endurance Championship: Fernando Alonso wins on debut

The winning Toyota No:8 car at the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps

Fernando Alonso made a winning start to his FIA World Endurance Championship career with victory in the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.

The 36-year-old McLaren F1 driver teamed up with Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima to win his first major race since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.

Their Toyota TS050 hybrid finished just 1.444 seconds ahead of the second Toyota outfit.

The next race in the series is the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 16-17 June.

Despite qualifying second in Spa, Alonso's Number eight car was promoted to pole position overnight after the Toyota team comprising Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez was penalised for a technical infringement.

Alonso will combine the WEC with his Formula 1 commitments at McLaren this season as he bids to add the Le Mans title to his Monaco Grand Prix victories of 2006 and 2007.

The two-time F1 world champion is trying to win motorsport's 'triple crown' of Monaco, the Indy 500 and Le Mans - a feat only ever achieved by Britain's Graham Hill.

Alonso missed last year's Monaco Grand Prix to compete in the Indianapolis 500 but his race was ended by engine failure.