WITH POLE START IN HYBRID DIESEL AUDI

Allan McNish starts his hybrid diesel Audi from pole-position for the Bahrain Six Hour race todayDumfries-born McNish stopped the clock at the wheel of the Audi R18 e-tron quattro he shares with Tom Kristensen (Den) in a fastest time of 1min 45.814ecs, an average speed of 114.40mph around the 3.36-mile Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir in Fridays (FRI) 20-minute qualifying session.From pole position you cant get a better starting point for a race, commented McNish who switches to the hybrid diesel for the first time since the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.Its a thank you to our car crew for all the work theyve done this week in building an e-tron quattro up from scratch here at the track for Tom and I.McNish and Kristensen are bidding for their second win in the FIA World Endurance Championship and cut the points deficit to their Audi Sport team-mates Marcel Fssler (CH)/Andr Lotterer (D)/Benot Trluyer (F) who head the title race now by 6.5pts with just three races remaining.The Scotsmans last pole was at Spa in Belgium four months ago on the R18 e-tron quattros race debut.Allan added: The run to the first corner at the start will be easier with the extra hybrid boost of the e-tron quattro but the difference between winning the race or not will be determined by clever strategy and driving plus human and tyre conservation because it is going to be very hot.Weve got to work in achieving that goal but claiming pole is a good first step.   The Fssler/Lotterer/Trluyer Audi R18 e-tron quattro completes the all-Audi front row, Fssler setting the second fastest time (1:45.888) on the 28-car gridthe time trials having been red-flagged briefly midway through for debris to be cleared off the track.The six hour race, which starts at 2pm (UK time), will be run in energy-sapping temperatures above 30 Centigrade throughout but mainly in darkness at the ultra-modern Bahrain track