by Russell Atkins
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Allan McNish says he is keen to get his 2008 season off to the best possible start in this weekend's
Daytona 24 Hours by beating his results from 1998 and 1999, climbing onto the top step of the podium outright and taking home a Rolex watch for his troubles.
The Dumfries-born ace has twice finished second in the prestigious round-the-clock Florida curtain-raiser, and will be making his sixth appearance in the race this year. Having joined SAMAX Motorsport the team which finished second at Daytona in 2007 and where he will be partnered by fellow Audi 'works' drivers Lucas Luhr and Mike Rockenfeller as well as American Henri Zogaib behind the wheel of a Riley-Pontiac he is hopeful of storming to glory.
It's a very different race, a one-off event, McNish told
Crash.net Radio. The Daytona 24 Hours is a nice easy way to get yourself into the year if you like, but it's also a good race to do from my point-of-view. I like it, and it's got a nice Rolex Daytona watch at the end of it if you're victorious, so we'll start with that one and see how we get on.
Beyond that, the seasoned sportscar veteran has a busy schedule ahead of him, with a title to defend in the American Le Mans Series, a score to settle in the Le Mans 24 Hours and a potential and no doubt popular return to Britain to compete in the Le Mans Series'
Silverstone round in September.
2008 is a very heavy campaign from Audi's point-of-view, he confirmed. They're hopefully defending the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) championship that Dindo Capello and I won for the second year, and also the Le Mans 24 Hours.
On top of that we've possibly got another campaign which is the Le Mans Series in Europe, which will be head-to-head with Peugeot. There's going to be the new Porsche coming across as well with Oreca, and with Pescarolo in the mix too I can see some really fierce battles ahead in the 1,000km races.
