Kristensen: R10 will have edge

Thanks to various air restriction and weight penalties applied to the five-times Le Mans winning R8 this year, the car was not the fastest over one lap of the famous French circuit and was comfortably slower than the Pescarolo Sport prototypes.

However, it won thanks to better reliability.

With the new diesel-powered R10 that Kristensen will drive this year with high torque at lower engine speeds, the Dane reckons that the car could regain its competitive advantage.

Kristensen said: "This year we were handicapped at Le Mans but I believe it is going to be the other way round next year and we will be quicker on the straights.

"This is new technology and team work and I very much hope we can bring it all together. But the race is about having good balance on engine and chassis over this distance.

"We as drivers are going to now have to focus on developing our driving style to this brand new concept."