McNish Fears Lapping Accidents
Allan McNish fears there could be more accidents in traffic in this year's Le Mans 24 Hours because of the lower straight-line speed differential experienced between some cars in different classes
McNish's Champion Racing Audi R8 has been hit with increased weight and air restrictor penalties for this year's race, slowing down its straight-line speed.
In an exclusive interview with Autosport-Atlas, the Scot said that incidents could occur when prototypes such as the R8 are forced to pass in slower GT cars in the corners because they do not have the speed to drive by on the straights.
McNish told Autosport-Atlas: "I can see some irate drivers both in a prototype and a GT because they could both trip over each other.
"We will not be much quicker, if at all, than the GT cars on the straights. Which means we are going to have to do our passing in the braking areas. We are going to have to be a bit more calculated in our risks.
"If we're coming into the Porsche curves and we have to wait until the slower cars go though the series of bends we'll lose five seconds and we can't afford to do that. We will have to make clean and decisive overtaking manoeuvres.
"I don't expect slower cars to get out of my way. But I do expect them to know I'm there and vice versa. They have got to expect me to come past. It is an awareness thing.
"I don't think you can instil anything in to anyone by passing on the left or the right or whatever."
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