Audi ace Allan McNish will be aiming for “home rule” again when Britain’s former double Le Mans 24 Hour race winner contests a 1,000km endurance sportscar race at Silverstone on Sunday (12 Sep).
The 40-year-old Scotsman bids for a fourth victory in the Autosport 1000km of Silverstone after winning the corresponding race in 2004, 2005 and 2008 for Audi.
Dumfries-born McNish, who will have “Great Dane” Tom Kristensen as his co-driver in the Audi R15 TDI, is doubly determined for success as the Silverstone race marks the fifth and final round of the Le Mans Series and also the opening round of the three-race inaugural Intercontinental Le Mans Cup.
“The Silverstone 1,000 km race is the first round of the 2010 Intercontinental Cup and so it is important Tom and I, and of course Audi, get off to a good start in that Championship as Peugeot, our main competition over the last three years, will be keen for revenge especially after Audi’s 1-2-3 result at Le Mans in June,” said McNish.
“Le Mans was my last race so it’s been a long summer without racing but we have been very busy with testing and motivation is high. Silverstone marks the first time Audi and Peugeot have faced each other since Le Mans so you can expect fireworks and a titanic fight between us.”
Allan and eight-time Le Mans 24 Hour race winner Kristensen plus Audi Sport Team Joest team-mates Dindo Capello, the Italian who has been McNish’s regular co-driver since 2006, and Germany’s Timo Bernhard, drive the Audi R15 TDI sports-prototype which claimed the top-three positions and set a new distance record at Le Mans.
For the Silverstone, Road Atlanta and Zhuhai races, the aerodynamics on the R15 TDI have been trimmed for higher downforce – the only modification compared to Le Mans. The 170-lap, 1,000km race will last over five hours and will be staged on Silverstone’s revised 3.666-mile “New Grand Prix” circuit.
McNish added: “The Audi R15 TDI has already won two out of the three races we’ve done this year and TK and I will be fighting hard to make it a third win on what is the R15 TDI’s UK race début. It’s effectively this car’s final race on European soil this year.
“I always like racing at Silverstone. In fact, I had my first ever car race there and I have had success on all the variants of track since then. It has been quite a happy hunting ground throughout my career. With most of my racing taking place abroad these days, it’s really nice to ‘come home’ to catch up with fans and family that come along to watch.
“I have only seen the new track layout on television. It still has the long, fast section from Copse to Club and then the slower section back to the start-finish line. I don’t think the track will be any easier but actually more complicated for set-up with aerodynamic grip and balance being important in the first part and mechanical grip and balance in the second part. I am sure it will, as always, produce a good, exciting race.”
Kristensen, meanwhile, has won at Silverstone in Formula 3000 and the British Touring Car Championship but has not previously raced a sports-prototype at the Northamptonshire venue with his last race there being a BTCC victory in 1990.
The 2010 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup calendar comprises of the Silverstone race plus Petit Le Mans (Road Atlanta, United States, October 2) and the 1000 km Zhuhai (Zhuhai, China, November 7). Meanwhile, the 2011 calendar will comprise of these three races plus the 12 Hours of Sebring (Sebring, United States, March), the 1000 km Spa (Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, May), the 24 Hours of Le Mans (Le Mans, France, June 11-12) and the 1000 km Fuji (Fuji, Japan, October).
Source : Allan McNish