In a brilliant sportscar...

In a brilliant sportscar career, the 37-year-old Scot has triumphed in just about every major international GT race with Audi, with the notable exception of Le Mans. And that’s a jinx McNish sadly failed to break at the weekend in France, despite dominating the 75th running of the classic event in the R10 he shared with team-mates Dindo Capello and Tom Kristensen.

By daybreak on Sunday morning, the trio had established a massive 10-minute lead over the second of the diesel-powered Audis, driven by Frank Biela, Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner. But then, once again, McNish ran out of luck. This time, a mechanical fault caused a rear wheel to fall off the car, sending the helpless Capello crashing heavily into the barriers.

“I’ve had some bad experiences here in the past, but this one was more cruel because we had a car that dominated the race for nearly 17 hours – we had blown everyone else away,” said a despondent McNish.

“We did everything perfectly from the start and established what was a really good lead over the other Audi. And then, when you least expect it, Le Mans comes back to bite you. I feel very hollow as it’s another year before I can come back and have another crack at it.

“Of course I’m delighted that an Audi has won again, but from my perspective it’s obviously been another hugely bittersweet emotion.”

McNish’s misfortune handed a second consecutive 24 Hours victory to the remaining R10 of last year’s champs Biela, Pirro and Werner, who survived some heart-stopping moments as torrential rain fell during the closing stages. “It was more like a boat race at the end,” reported Werner.

“I was more than relieved when I crossed the finishing line.” The biggest sigh of relief, though, came from Audi Sport boss Dr Wolfgang Ullrich. He said: “I think this was the most difficult race we ever did at Le Mans, with strong competition and tricky conditions. So it’s a fantastic result for the whole team.”

As expected, the two new diesel-powered Peugeot 908s provided Audi’s stiffest opposition. One of the cars, which had Jacques Villeneuve among its drivers, retired from a potential podium place with less than two hours to run.

But the other French challenger of Sebastien Bourdais, Pedro Lamy and Stephane Sarrazin came home in second place. “They’ll be a big threat next year,” warned McNish.

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29.03.2012