McNish concerned Peugeot will catch up

The Scottish driver ended another quadruple stint with the No.2 Audi holding a clear advantage over the No.7 Peugeot, and McNish is hoping that the wet conditions will hold on for a little longer to help Audi build a safe cushion.

"In these slippery conditions, the sure-footedness of the Audi is really going in our favour," said McNish. "But Peugeot's speed in the dry is insurmountable.

"I'd like us to get enough of an advantage so that it can dry out and we'll still be OK, because you haven't got much avoidance capacity in the wet.

"It's not just your own mistakes you have to avoid, it's other people's too. Concentration is the hard part, because if you make the slightest error, then you have a very big problem."

McNish added that Audi's wet-weather advantage was not particularly big in his eyes.

"We've looked to take a bit of an advantage from the conditions, but it ebbs and flows," he said. "It's not 100 per cent consistent."