McNish says: “We're ready”

McNish shares an Audi R8 with German drivers Frank Biela and Pierre Kaffer and the combination starts as one of the favourites for victory.

"Since its race debut in 2000, the Audi R8 has proven to be ultra-reliable," says McNish, "which allows the driver to push harder and now the Le Mans 24 Hours is a day-long 'sprint' race. From a driver's point of view, you have to give 100%, day and night, while the team in the pits have to do the same.

"I've been endurance training for the past four months to get my body ready for the physical and also mental demands of driving up to four hours in any one stint during the 24 Hour race. I'm ready and so is the team and I can't wait for the start of the race."

McNish certainly doesn't think it will be a pushover for the Veloqx team, whose other cars will be driven by Johnny Herbert, Jamie Davies and Guy Smith. "Competition will be tough," he says. "The similar 'Japanese' and 'American' Audi R8s will obviously be strong but so too will be the Zytek, Dome and Pescarolo cars."