Audi drivers surprised by early lead

McNish and Kristensen, who share the No.2 Audi R10 TDI with Rinaldo Capello, inherited the lead of the race in the third hour after all three of their Peugeot rivals hit trouble.

At the turn of the fourth hour, the Audi crew was still in the lead, but McNish remains cautious over the prodigious speed of the French diesels.

"Obviously they are very quick but as we can see they have got reliability issues and we are very consistent even in traffic," he said. "And I don't think that after two and a half hours of racing we would be in the lead.

"But there are still more than 20 hours to go."

Kristensen agrees with his co-driver's opinion but added that Peugeot still has enough time to fight their way back into contention quickly.

"I think they are under a bit of pressure and they have had a few issues," he said. "What looked like the fastest car has been in the gearbox issue, and that is unfortunate for them.

"But the race is long and at the moment we are where we want to be, then again they are still doing more competitive times than us.

"The benefit that we have now is much sooner than we would have expected but this is just more pressure. But the race is long and they will be able to catch us soon, but at the moment we are doing okay."