McNish: Peugeot should be nervous

Peugeot's Stephane Sarrazin and McNish staged a thrilling battle for pole at Road Atlanta, with the 908 finally emerging on top by 0.085 seconds.

But McNish was undaunted by missing out on pole, and reckons Audi will be stronger in the race.

"The car was extremely good," he said. "We had a good balance and good grip from the tyres after one or two laps. I was able to push very hard and continue to improve.

"That says that we've got an extremely good race car. We are closer to Peugeot than we have ever been in the LMS championship. This bodes well for tomorrow because we can always race faster than we can qualify.

"I think Peugeot will be very aware of that and very nervous right now."

McNish's co-driver Dindo Capello agreed that Audi were in very good shape.

"It is a positive surprise that the gap to Peugeot is so close - we did not expect this," said the Italian.

"The gap was already reduced at the LMS race at Silverstone compared to the previous races, but on this track here it is almost gone. Starting so close to Peugeot is a very good sign for the race."

Sarrazin said he had been determined not to let Audi beat Peugeot to Petit Le Mans pole. He repeatedly closed on McNish's initial provisional pole lap before edging ahead just as the Audi completed its run and pitted.

"I was surprised by how little grip there was during the early part of the session and I went into some memorable slides," said Sarrazin.

"The grip improved for the second half of the session, though, and I decided to give it everything I had. I couldn't see myself returning to the Peugeot pits with only the second best time to show for everybody's efforts."

Peugeot have had the fastest package in the LMP1 class all season, but driver errors and mechanical problems have repeatedly stymied their efforts - costing them victories in the Sebring 12 Hours and Le Mans 24 Hours, and allowing Audi to snatch the Le Mans Series title despite Peugeot winning four of the five races.

Petit Le Mans, Peugeot's first American Le Mans Series appearance since Sebring, is therefore the team's final chance to salvage a major success from the 2008 season.