Werner Unsure Audi can Win Again

Werner's Audi R8 has been the winning car in four of the last five Le Mans 24-hours, and Werner will partner Tom Kristensen, who has taken six  victories in the endurance race.

However Champion Racing were six seconds off the leading Pescarolo-Judd pace at last weekend's practice - the only official testing day for the entrants before qualifying next week. In an exclusive interview with Autosport-Atlas, Werner said that although he believes his team have the best drivers combination, the pace of Pescarolo does not bode well for a close race.

"I'm not really sure that we can win," the German said. "We are not the quickest, but I just hope we have the most reliable car. The pace is so high in the last four or five years at Le Mans that you must run without any problems if you want to finish on the podium.

"The R8 is a little bit slower than before because we have too many restrictions. The car has an air restrictor and less power than last year, and we have 50kg more weight on the car because of penalties handed to us. Six seconds per lap is a lot for a race driver.

"But I think we have the best driver combination on the grid. Tom's six races are fantastic and JJ [Lehto] and I are especially good in traffic. This will be especially important this year because I think we are not the quickest cars on the straights. We don't even have a higher speed than the GT cars on the straights. So we are going to have to overtake on braking and then turn into the corners. You must have a very special feeling for this. JJ is good in this, and I can do a good job too."