McNish can't wait to test new Audi

Audi have so far only confirmed seven-times Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen on the driving front for their new car, but McNish looks set to secure a seat with a test lined up imminently.

"I am going to be testing the car quite soon and I am really looking forward to that," he said on the Central Stage at the Autosport International Show. "Being out of the cockpit for a while you get itchy fit, and especially when you have a new toy like the R10.

"It is going to be a hard act to follow, but looking at the car and understanding the way they have done it, they have done it with a lot of logic."

The R8 was one of the most successful sportscars ever and McNish has said that there is no under-estimating the challenge that the company has taken on with the diesel-powered R10.

"There are things that don't necessarily matter so much on the road - weight for example. On the road you are looking for fuel economy and from a racing point of view you want a lot of speed and a lot of power - so you need to get the weight right.

"We will see at the end of June whether it is successful. Le Mans is unique because it allows manufacturers with different ideas and philosophies to race.

"If you have an engine that runs on chip pan fat then you can produce that into a race car and race at Le Mans. You cannot do it anywhere else, so I do think it attracts a new breed of manufacturers.

"It is clear that we cannot sustain running on just petrol as we have in the past. We are not going to be able to do it much longer and this is the turning point where people will get off the shelf and take things to a racing circuit."