Wurz impressed with Peugeot 908

The Honda Formula One test driver will start from pole position in the car he shares with Stephane Sarrazin (who set the pole time) and Pedro Lamy.

Wurz said the experience of driving the diesel 908 was very different to his previous sportscar experiences with the Joest Porsche WSC95 and the Mercedes CLK-GTR in the mid-1990s.

"It has proper grip. It is a fully grown-up race car," he told autosport.com. "Of course with the diesel it's different, because it's not so screamy and the vibrations are different, which is nice for the driver because you don't have a headache in the night.

"But you get used to it very quick because you just shift when the lights are on and you are in the rev band. But the nice thing is that every time you want torque you have torque. Even in sixth gear, you put the throttle down and you feel it coming. That's very cool.

"Of course the sportscar also has big wide slick tyres, so you can brake right hard into the corners and in Formula One that's what I miss from my driving style.

"I've got back with the slick testing and I love it, but I have it already in the sportscars. It's good driving, you can treat the car rougher than in F1 and get away with it. It's a damn good car."

The Austrian reckons he is already on the pace of his teammates.

"In first practice I was still getting used to it," Wurz said. "In the second practice I set some of the fastest times and long runs. But it is a give and take. We are all pretty evenly-matched and in the end it is more managing the traffic than smoking one lap out of it."

Wurz is taller than his co-drivers, and he admitted that tailoring the cockpit to suit all three men had proved awkward.

"There is a big compromise on the seating situation, because you cannot sit exactly as you want, because all the others have to fit as well," said Wurz.

"So it's really give and take. If you get egotistical and stamp and your feet and insist on your own seating position then you shoot yourself in the foot, because the others will get a cramp 20 minutes into their stint.

"It's a bit harder for the others actually because they have to accept that I physically need to be able to drive. So that means the means the pedals are moved forward and the steering is moved towards me.

"That is not so easy for Stephane and Pedro, but they happy to adapt and I am happy not to have the perfect seating position."