McNish expects closer fight in race

Two of the three Peugeots set 3:18 laps, six seconds faster than the best Audi times, but the Scot says the two manufacturers will be a lot more evenly matched in race conditions.

"They were very quick, there's no way you can say they were anything other than impressive," McNish told autosport.com. "But we've seen this same picture before, their one-lap performance is excellent.

"Our time is quite a bit ahead of where we were last year, so we've definitely improved the car. When it comes to running at night, we're definitely closer again, so I'd say that as the weekend goes forward we will just edge closer to their lap times.

"I did one 3:29 lap in the dark, and that was in a bit of traffic, so I know I can go quite a chunk quicker."

McNish predicts that Audi's experience and race craft will keep them in contention for victory throughout the race.

"There are two or three key things," he added. "One is mistakes on track, and we saw it again in first qualifying where a couple of Peugeots have gone through gravel traps. Another is pitstop mistakes, and our guys are generally very good. And also what we're able to do in terms of race pace in all circumstances.

"It's going to be a much tighter fight than it looked on the first night, because if you just looked at the result sheet you would think it is a one-way battle."