McNish: Start key to beating Peugeot

The Scot qualified second on the grid, 0.7 seconds behind Stephane Sarrazin's 908 Hdi, and says that getting past the French car at La Source could hold the key to the race, even though it is expected to be more than five hours long.

"I've said all season that we need to put pressure on the Peugeots right from the start of the race, and that we can't afford to let off especially with the speed of our car currently," said McNish, whose car starts on the front row for the first time this season.

"If I can get past the Peugeot at the start, I have a half a chance of running the race at my pace."

Audi have brought revisions to the rear aerodynamics of their diesel-powered R10 TDIs to Spa, but while the German cars were closer to the hitherto dominant 908s in qualifying, McNish was unclear as to how much of an effect the new parts had made.

"I haven't had a chance to back-to-back test the new package, but it is obviously a little better, how much I don't know," he said. "The gap was bit closer than I expected overall so that gives us a bit more confidence when it comes to the race tomorrow. In reality though we are still chasing the Peugeot and the situation is similar to that in Barcelona and Monza.

"But on the other hand, we have seen in previous races, quite consistently, that Audi is much more competitive in the races, and at over 160+ laps and six hours of racing of this circuit. and that's the type of car that we will actually need. So starting from the front row, we have a fighting chance."

McNish and co-driver Rinaldo Capello have yet to enjoy a trouble-free race in the 2008 LMS. The No.1 Audi suffered an alternator belt failure in Spain and then Capello crashed at Monza, but the Italian is hoping their luck is about to change.

"Allan (McNish) did a great job in qualifying and the gap between us and the pole-starting Peugeot in qualifying was not as much as we thought, which means for the race we are more confident than we were at Barcelona and Monza," he said.

"I really hope that at Spa Allan and I will have the chance for victory because we have had very bad luck since the beginning of the season - we must catch up and fight for the championship."