Even more significantly still, he has a record to set straight in northern France in mid-June. After he, Capello and ‘King of Le Mans' Tom Kristensen had led the legendary La Sarthe endurance classic for almost 17 hours last year, all of McNish's dreams of a second triumph to accompany that which he had achieved with Porsche ten years ago disintegrated before his eyes when a loose wheel put his Italian team-mate heavily into the wall at the high-speed Indianapolis corner – and out of the race.
“They're going to be very hard to beat,” he acknowledged of the brace of Porsche RS Spyders in the ALMS, after the Penske Racing-run machines claimed overall victory a staggering eight times in twelve outings last season, “as are Honda under the Acura brand. They've got three cars there and there are about five Porsches [in total], and from that point-of-view it's a hard fight because the circuits over in America are very different to European tracks.
“We do 200mph at Le Mans, but we've got a 45-second street circuit in Houston which is extremely bumpy, very short and totally different. That's where the power-to-weight ratio of the LMP2 car is significantly different to the big, powerful LMP1s and, unfortunately for us, they're a little bit better on that type of track. The regulations are meant to try and strike a balance, but unfortunately they haven't quite got it right so far.
“If I'm honest, I feel I've got some scores to settle after 2007, 2006 and 2005 at Le Mans. It's the hardest race in the world, and I say that quite clearly because it's 24 hours long and you'll cover about 5,500km in that time, which is the equivalent of about 16
Formula 1 grands prix back-to-back without stopping, without changing gearboxes, without changing engines, without changing suspension, brakes, discs, whatever it may be… It's just purely tyres and fuel, and so it is extremely hard for a car and also for the drivers.
