Paralympic gold medlaist Alex Zanardi to drive for BMW in 24 Hours of Daytona

This past weekend, BMW announced that former CART champion, Formula 1 driver and para-cyling champion Alex Zanardi will be racing a BMW M8 GTE at the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona. Zanardi competed in CART from 1996 through 1998, returning in 2001 before his career was put on hold after a tragic accident at EuroSpeedway Lausitz in Germany cost him both his legs. Zanardi will spend the whole of 2018 prepping for the Daytona race in 2019.

Jens Marquardt and @lxznr just announced that Alex will compete in the 2019 Daytona 24h race in a modified BMW M8 GTE! He will now start his "Road to Daytona", including development works on a new braking system. #BMWSeasonReview17 #RoadtoDaytona pic.twitter.com/6S0mXNu0qp

— BMW Motorsport (@BMWMotorsport) December 15, 2017

This isn't Zanardi's first rodeo with BMW. His accident didn't keep him out of the driver's seat for long. He spent five seasons racing a BMW 3 Series in the FIA World Touring Car championship, racking up four wins in total. In 2014, Zanardi raced a BMW Z4 GT3 in the Blancpain Sprint Series. He's also had great success outside of motorsports, taking four gold medals in para-cycling in total at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games.

Part of his preparation for Daytona includes working on the new braking system for the M8 GTE. 2018 will be the first season the new car will compete, so a lot of the year will be spent developing and tuning the car on the track, including the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans.

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