McNish: Audi now in a strong position

The performance gap between the Audi and Peugeot diesels appears to be much closer than it has been for most of the LMS season, and the Scot is confident that he can mix with the French cars in the race.

"The aim is to win," said McNish, who shares the No.1 Audi R10 TDi with three-time Le Mans winner Rinaldo Capello. "It is quite clear we can't win the championship and I think at the end we want to sign off with a victory.

"Peugeot have been very strong so far, as we obviously know, and we have been close in the races but we haven't been able to put it all together.

"We are much closer than ever before, and our race pace is always better than our qualifying pace so I think we have a very good chance to take the fight to them tomorrow.

"It is hard to know what to expect from tomorrow," he added. "We are clearly closer to Peugeot in terms of time around here, but you never know what the race will bring.

"Certainly if it rains we are in a very strong position, but Peugeot still have the edge in the dry. And then there is the traffic..."

McNish added that he expected traffic to be a factor in tomorrow's race, with so many high-speed corners followed by fast straights around Silverstone.

"The nature of the circuit means that traffic is a particular problem here," he said. "And in some places it seemed there was a braking difference of 80mph! And some of these guys just don't look in there mirrors. It's the same for everyone, but it could be a factor in the race."

Meet the Aston Martin drivers at the Autosport stand at Silverstone this weekend.