McNish eyes third Le Mans after crash horror
Allan McNish targets a third Le Mans 24 Hour Race victory this weekend, insisting that last year's horror crash at the circuit has not dampened his enthusiasm for the event.
The British driver, who partners Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen in an Audi, won the race in 1998 and again in 2008 but was lucky to escape a massive accident in the first hour of the 2011 edition.
"The crash has no relevance to be honest, I've raced since then and I've won since then," said the 42-year-old Scot.
"I definitely think that three (wins) is a better number than two. The pressure is always there. But I have won two more Le Mans than Mario Andretti as an example and Mario is an absolute legend in motorsport and won everything else but never won at Le Mans."
Last year Audi won for a 10th time in 12 outings, although Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler were not the men expected to be taking the chequered flag.
They thrived where the other two Audis failed – McNish had been followed out of the race by 2010 champion Mike Rockenfeller whose car speared into the barriers.
Lotterer, Treluyer and Fassler will start on pole position on Saturday.
McNish will be amongst the favourites this year, especially with eight-time winner Kristensen and three-time champion Capello alongside him again. The combination have raced together at Le Mans since 2006.
"Going back to Le Mans is always very special and the race itself is always an amazing occasion," added McNish.
"I gave this car a debut race pole-position (Spa in Belgium, May) but I'm now focused on giving it a maiden win at Le Mans but know it's going to be tough. We've prepared well and I can't wait to get on track again."
Audi's main competition in the 80th running of the endurance event will come from Toyota, the Japanese manufacturer returning to Le Mans after a 13-year absence.
Toyota's technical director Pascal Vasselon believes pole position is not out of the question for his team, despite Audi setting the three fastest times in qualifying on Thursday.
"We will try to do well," Vasselon told www.autosport.com.
"We want to show that we are here. Pole position would be nice. We are going to do our best, so long as it doesn't detract from the other work we need to do. It will be a nice game."
The Toyota TS030 Hybrid has yet to complete a 24-hour test and its first chassis was damaged in testing.
Toyota have four experienced drivers at their disposal – Nicolas Lapierre, Alexander Wurz, Anthony Davidson and Stephane Sarrazin.
Sarrazin was on pole for Peugeot for three consecutive years between 2007 and 2009.
