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Audio: McNish favourite for ‘fever Las Vegas!’

Allan McNish heads into this weekend's penultimate round of the American Le Mans Series in a comfortable position as the drivers' points leader, but rather than boosting the Scotsman's confidence, McNish is terrified!

The leading Audi driver has a 10-point lead over team mate Rinaldo Capello and is the undisputed favourite to take the title, but the Audi man told Radio Autosport that his position as points leader does not make things any easier.

"It's terrifying," he said. "It's very nice having won a couple of races and being back in the fight, but you've got to stay focused and just keep doing what you've been doing up until now."

To listen to the full Radio Autosport interview with Allan McNish, click here.

As the championship battle hots up, it is fitting that the venue for the penultimate round should be the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 2.25-mile track combines part of the facility's banked oval with a twisty infield and lies in the middle of the Nevada desert, mere miles from the palm trees and slot machines of Sunset Strip.

McNish could clinch the championship in Vegas to add to the manufacturers' title secured by Audi two weeks ago at Laguna Seca. Audi drivers occupy four of the top six slots, but the BMW pairing of Jorg Muller and JJ Lehto are holding on in third and fourth respectively. Muller is 13 points behind McNish's total of 237, but with 25 points available for a win and one point each for leading a lap, most laps led and fastest lap, anything is possible.

The Panoz cars both retired at Laguna Seca, but the number one pairing of Jan Magnussen and David Brabham were comfortably leading the race by more than 20 seconds before the LMP-1's V8 engine blew up. This weekend the duo will be keen to pick up from where they left off.

In the GTS class the Corvette/Viper battle continues to rage and although the Chrysler cars held the upper hand at Laguna, the 'Vette of Ron Fellows and Andy Pilgrim separated the first and third placed Oreca cars. Olivier Beretta and Karl Wendlinger continue to be the highest placed GTS drivers in the standings, the former just three points ahead of his German team mate.

The PTG team broke the Dick Barbour Racing stronghold at the top of the GT class by scoring its first class win at Laguna Seca. The BMW M3 of Boris Said and Hans Stuck took an assured win over the hordes of Porsche 911 GT3-Rs and should continue to be a thorn in the side of the DBR team at the twisty Vegas circuit.

Even if Audi does romp to its seventh consecutive one-two finish, the 2h45m race is sure to provide some interesting battles. Whatever the outcome, it will be important to make the most of the action as it is the final installment before the season showdown on New Year's Eve in Adelaide, Australia.


Allan McNish Audi 237
Rinaldo Capello Audi 227
Jorg Muller BMW 221
JJ Lehto BMW 220
Frank Biela Audi 214
Emanuele Pirro Audi 213
Jan Magnussen Panoz 198
David Brabham Panoz 183
Hiroki Katoh Panoz 153
Johnny O'Connell Panoz 143

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