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LE MANS NEWS

McNish sure crash won't affect race

By Simon Strang

Friday, June 10th 2011, 19:57 GMT

#3 Audi, Le Mans 2011 Allan McNish is confident that the damage done to the #3 Audi R18 TDI during Tom Kristensen's accident in the final stages of qualifying for the 2011 Le Mans 24 Hours will not have a negative impact on their race plans.

The Scot, who shares the car with Kristensen and Dindo Capello - the same crew that won the event in 2008 - said that while there was significant damage to the left hand side of the car, the tub emerged unscathed.

"It won't be a problem," he told AUTOSPORT. "The car had been stripped down and all the broken pieces taken off it before we had even finished our debrief last night.

"Audi is good at this sort of thing and has a track record for bringing cars back so that they feel the way they did before the accident, if you think back to previous occasions at Petit Le Mans and Sebring, it didn't have a detrimental effect then either."

The #3 car, which in past Le Mans has often been considered to be Audi's unofficial lead crew, lines up fifth on the grid for the race and slowest of the three R18 TDIs. But McNish said he was unconcerned about qualifying, adding that he was supremely confident in the #3 car's competitiveness.

"The accident wasn't ideal because the car was really dialled in and felt very good, but that's the way it is," he said. "I am very happy with it. My time, which was a 3m37.5s or something was set in the first of the two Thursday sessions on old tyres and some traffic, so I think we totally have the pace.

"We were not really concerned about pole, if it happened okay, but we wanted to get the mechanical balance of the car right and I think we have achieved that."

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