Allan McNish returns to American Le Mans

Allan McNish returns to American Le Mans Series action at Lime Rock on Saturday (7 Jul) doubly determined to retain the championship title for himself and Audi.

The 37-year-old looked on course for victory in last month’s prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours (16-17 Jun) at the wheel of his diesel-powered Audi but was denied the win seven hours from the chequered flag having dominated the race until that point.

A successful defence of the ALMS title would go some way in offsetting the pain and misery McNish endured in France as the North American-based series heads in to the second half of the season.

“I’m still hurting inside after Le Mans but there will be no better tonic than to get back to winning ways at Lime Rock,” remarked McNish.

“Le Mans is the big race of the year but it’s now a case of concentrating on the rest of the season and ensuring that Dindo and I successfully retain the ALMS title for us and Audi.”

The 165-minute race marks the début of the Audi R10 TDI at Lime Rock, McNish and co-driver Dindo Capello having scored an emotional final victory for the petrol-engined Audi R8 in the corresponding race last July.

McNish added: “Dindo and I hold a 12-point championship lead in LM P1 over our Audi team-mates Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner but it will be unknown territory to a certain degree with the R10 TDI at Lime Rock as we’ve never been there before with our diesel sportscar.

“Although there have been some LM P2 regulation changes, I still expect a very hard battle with Porsche and Acura (Honda) who have proven they are now fast on all types of tracks and are strong competitors fighting for pole-position and overall victory.

“That said, Dindo and I have a score to settle after Le Mans which will be a good motivator."

Audi has a 100% winning record at Lime Rock which has been used by ALMS since 2004. In addition to McNish/Capello last season, JJ Lehto/Marco Werner (Audi R8) won there in both 2004 & ’05.

The eight-corner, 1.53-mile undulating Lime Rock Park track is located in Lakeville, is set in over 300 hundred acres of parkland in Northwest Connecticut, and is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

“Lime Rock is one of the more difficult circuits we race on,” McNish continued. “It’s short, extremely fast, has a variety of corners and different track surfaces which sometimes means the ‘natural’ and normal line through a corner is not always the best one. It’s a historic track and follows the contours of the beautiful surrounding landscape.

“Dindo and I gave the Audi R8 a perfect retirement with a win in its final race and we’ll be pushing very hard to claim the R10 TDI’s first victory at Lime Rock.”

Official qualifying for the American Le Mans Northeast Grand Prix is staged at 2120-2140 (BST) on Friday with Saturday’s race getting underway at 2005 (BST).