Magnussen missed out on Daytona winning drive

Contract delays scuppered Kevin Magnussen’s hopes of securing a drive with Rolex 24 at Daytona race-winning outfit Action Express Racing. 

The Haas driver said he nearly joined fellow Formula 1 drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll on the grid, but his his hopes of a deal fell through when contract delays meant he ran out of time to finalise a drive. The Action Express Racing squad went on to claim a one-two finish at Daytona. 

"I think we just started the conversations too late and the contract stuff got delayed," Magnussen told RACER. "We decided to call it off and wait for the following season.

"I don't think there's any difficulties in reaching an agreement. It's not a Formula 1 contract. Formula 1 contracts are quite complicated and it's not going to be as complicated with a Daytona team, but it still needs to be right.

“The team I was talking to won the race! That was annoying. I mean, I'm happy for them but annoying that I didn't do it.”

Magnussen still wishes to contest the race and is targeting an entry for the 2019 race, adding he is drawn to the event by the opportunity of winning, as well as its positioning on the motorsport calendar. 

"That's what is exciting about those things. Daytona is a legendary race, a fantastic race that I would love to compete in and try and win. It's the same with Le Mans. I like what Fernando's doing at the moment – I really understand his desire to go and do those things.

"I wouldn't want to do it at the same time as Formula 1 but I'd love to do those things. You can't have everything and I wouldn't want to do all those things at once. But Daytona is so early in the year that you can do that without interfering with all the other stuff that you do."