Aside from the mixture of track surfaces, another challenge offered by Le Mans is the issue of driving in varying light conditions from brilliant sunlight to dusk, sunrise, with hours of night time driving, and Werner's team-mate Pirro sees driving in the dark as being a case of pros and cons for the competitor.
"The positive thing is that at night, the tyres have more grip, the engine has more power and the car is quicker," revealed the three-time Le Mans winner, "but the driving is more difficult. The lighting situations change quickly at Le Mans – in the pit area, it is very bright, in other places, it's pretty dark.
"As the human eye does not adapt that quickly, some sections seem to approach quicker than they actually do, so you feel faster than you are," confirmed Kristensen. "The most important psychological aspect is to recognise the braking points early, i.e. to spot the brake signs erected 300 metres before the corner. Only if you see them, you feel safe. Overtaking is even easier at night as you will be seen earlier."
As for the art of overtaking itself at Le Mans, the hugely versatile McNish, who will drive alongside Kristensen sees the R10’s diesel powerplant as potentially aiding the team's planned surge through the field this year.
"Thanks to the TDi power of our Audi R10, we have much better overtaking chances at Le Mans than in the previous years when the Audi R8 was very restricted in its power by the rules"” said the former Toyota
F1 driver.
"The V12 TDi supplies so much torque that we can overtake easier under acceleration out of a corner, even on the outside," added McNish, "the new chassis supports these characteristics as it provides a high driving stability and the aerodynamics are very efficient. So it is easier for us on the whole track, not just at certain corners."
Meanwhile, Biela reveals that as well as having potentially beneficial characteristics for overtaking, the diesel power, and its lower noise output, compared to the petrol predecessor means changes to driving style.
