Ten minutes with Anthony Davidson

Last year Anthony Davidson hauled his Peugeot 908 back into contention with an epic quadruple stint after losing four laps in the garage, only to face the heartbreak of seeing the car expire in the 22nd hour with his co-driver Alex Wurz at the wheel.

This year the new 908 has demonstrated solid race pace and good reliability, and Davidson returns to Le Mans as part of the same driver line-up with Wurz and Marc Gene.

Q. How has the new car been going so far this year?

Anthony Davidson: Really well. I've been getting to grips with it - two races so far, at Sebring and Spa, plus loads of testing. I think it's performing at a good level now. At Sebring it was on a higher downforce package and we couldn't quite find the balance we wanted as drivers. But at Spa we were much happier with the car and that was with the same base package as we're going to run here at Le Mans - although here, obviously, we're at a different end of the scale within that downforce package.

Q. The Peugeot seems to have the edge over the Audi over a complete stint rather than in individual laps; where do you think that strength is coming from?

AD: I'm not sure really. Looking after a set of tyres is important in this type of racing, as it is in any other, but we spend a lot longer on those tyres in endurance racing. I think we're looking after our tyres better but I'm not sure how or why. We saw at Spa that Audi were quick in qualifying and on ultimate pace on fresh tyres, but we had perhaps the stronger package in race trim, so we could continue to drive at 100 per cent throughout the whole race - which I'm not sure they were able to do.

But I still feel they have a lot of potential in their car that's yet to be unleashed, although I'm not sure whether they're ready to do that here, either. Hopefully it's going to be close, like it was at Spa, and the fans will get a good show.

Q. There's the possibility of rain this weekend. How much wet running do you have in this car?

AD: I've never driven this car - never driven the 908 in any guise - in the wet, so that's going to be a new experience for me. And it's something I'm sure I'll have to do this weekend. The rain will be difficult if or when it comes, purely because we have the wider front tyres on the cars now, so aquaplaning becomes more apparent than ever before, and at the end of the straights in particular that's going to be an issue. But I'm confident in the car. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is driving in the wet, in the dark, with a dirty windscreen. That's the worst time to drive in the wet.

Q. How quickly did the team regroup in the aftermath of the engine problems last year?

Davidson with the 908 HDI earlier at Spa this year © LAT

AD: We all remember that race, and what could have been, but that's motor racing. You move on, focus on the next year and give it another go. We've won races since then!

You learn from your mistakes, as drivers and as teams, and so long as you do that and move forward it puts you in a stronger position as a whole team.

Q. How much of the car is new?

AD: It's absolutely new from the ground up. Every nut and bolt, every angle you look at is subtly different. In a way it's a testament to the old car that this one looks similar; it proves how far ahead it was. As you push technologies in windtunnels and in CFD, you end up with the results looking similar - if you painted all the cars in Formula 1 the same colour you'd be hard pushed to tell which is which. The new car has the same colour scheme as the old one so at first glance they look similar, but it's much more tightly packaged. If you see it running side by side with the ORECA 908, you'll see the old car is more boxy and less sexy.