Reigning American Le Mans Series Champion Allan McNish believes European sportscar racing could benefit from paying more attention to the way things are done across the Pond, by prioritising entertainment over engineering excellence.
The Scot and Italian team-mate Dindo Capello triumphed seven times in class and three times outright for Audi during the 2007 ALMS campaign,
en route to lifting the LMP1 laurels for the second successive campaign. As the duo bid to make it a hat-trick of successes in 2008, McNish praised the series for the exceptionally close finishes it enjoyed last year, with less than a second in it on occasion.
“It was one of the best seasons, as well as one of the hardest,” he acknowledged. “In terms of TV coverage in North America, ALMS is second only to NASCAR, and around 55,000 or 60,000 people attend each race. It's a very different type of racing series to what we are used to over here [in Europe].
“I don't enjoy the street circuits as much as older, more traditional ones, but if you've got a real true champion of a car then as a driver you've got to produce the goods in every scenario too. I think they create a good mix in the championship.”
McNish also pointed to the speed differential between the different classes – LMP1, LMP2, GT1 and GT2 – that makes for exciting action on-track with plenty of overtaking, and he insisted the European model could learn something from the Americans' policy of putting fun first.
“The difference over in America is that entertainment comes before sporting perfection,” the 39-year-old explained. “Entertainment is first and foremost there, with the sporting elements quite secondary, and I think in Europe we maybe have to move more towards that style of thinking.
“It's one of the concepts that is promoted in America, but one that we've struggled with a little bit here. We are starting to do it, but I think we still have to go a little bit further.”
