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Turner rules out fighting diesel cars

Darren Turner believes Aston Martin is in a strong position to be best of the petrol cars at this weekend's Le Mans 24 Hours, but says the diesel entries will be unbeatable

Despite efforts by race organisers, the ACO, to equalise the petrol and diesel LMP1 machines, Sebastien Bourdais' provisional pole for Peugeot, set last night, was nearly seven seconds faster than the quickest petrol machine.

Stefan Mucke topped the petrol group with Aston Martin's #007 entry, with a 3m26.680s effort, less than a tenth quicker than Turner's best in #009.

Turner, who will share the car with inexperienced Le Mans racers Juan Barazi and Sam Hancock, said: "The diesels don"t just have extra power, they can run more downforce due to having more torque. It's a two-class situation.

"The evolution of petrol technology is slow, but with diesel there are still big gains because it's relatively new in racing."

"The only way we'll get among them is if some of the diesels have issues. We have to fight the other petrol cars."

Nevertheless, Turner believes the Mucke/Adrian Fernandez/Harold Primat Aston will be a strong contender for petrol honours.

"The 007 car has a good chance," he said. "It's a good line-up and they've done three races together.

"None of us in 009 have done many miles, but we"re getting there. We"ve got to play a safe race and get on the petrol podium."

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