Scotsman starts from pole & claims second place on Bahrain debut in night raceThird WEC race win for hybrid diesel Audi of series leaders Fssler/Lotterer/TrluyerAllan McNish remains in striking distance of his Audi Sport team-mates in the FIA World Endurance Championship after the Scotsman registered second place in a sweltering Bahrain Six Hour race on Saturday 29 September.McNish and regular co-driver Tom Kristensen (Den) steered their Audi R18 e-tron quattro home one-lap behind race winners and championship leaders Marcel Fssler (CH)/Andr Lotterer (D)/Benot Trluyer (F) in their similar factory hybrid-diesel Audi.The 641.76-mile race staged at the 3.36-mile Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir ran mainly in darkness but humid 35C ambient temperatures and marked the first race for McNish and the factory Audi Sport team in Bahrain.Congratulations to Audi for our 1-2 result here in Bahrain, said McNish. It was a very hot race in more senses than just the ambient temperature. We had a brake problem early on that caused excess tyre wear so we had to change the rear tail section.We also had a few other minor problems with lights resulting in the need for the front bodywork to be changed which effectively put us completely out of contention.Dumfries-born McNish and Kristensen now lie 13.5-points behind the 2011 & 2012 Le Mans 24 Hour race winning trio of Fssler/Lotterer/Trluyer in the eight-race series with just two races remaining.McNish began from pole-positionhis second pole of the yearon the 28-car grid after the Scotsmans efforts in qualifying the previous day with the similar Audi of Fssler/Lotterer/Trluyer alongside on the front row and the Alex Wurz/Nicolas Lapierre (Toyota) third.Allan was relegated to second place by the Toyota after 12mins then by Fssler eight minutes later but the McNish/Kristensen Audi crucially went over one lap down on the leader when the front and rear bodywork sections were replaced at the first scheduled pit-stop to rectify a malfunctioning headlight and in an attempt to cure the high brake temperatures respectively.Kristensen had recovered from sixth to third on 85mins with McNish up to second after 2hrsstill a lap down on the Fssler/Lotterer/Trluyer Audiwhen the Toyota lost four laps after pitting for repairs.Further time was lost when the McNish/Kristensen Audi suffered a puncture while two further front bodywork changes were required due to headlight issues.Allan continued: It was only in the closing stages when we had reasonable balance on our Audi that allowed Tom and I to run some fast stints with good lap times but unfortunately with the pit-stop in the first hour the gap to our sister car was too much to do anything about.Im a little disappointed, especially starting again from pole position. We hoped for a clean race here in Bahrain but unfortunately it didnt come our way so we now have to focus on Japan in two weeks time.   Bahrain marked the third time McNish has raced the Audi R18 e-tron quattrothe first time since Le Mansthat made its race debut four months ago. Powered by a V6 turbo diesel engine delivering around 510hp through the rear wheels, it benefits briefly from an extra near 200hp, transmitted only through its front axle above 75mph, at specific zones using power harvested under braking.The penultimate round of the WEC is staged at Mount Fuji in Japan on Sunday 14 October.2012 FIA World Endurance Championship (after 6 rounds)Drivers: 1st Marcel Fssler (CH)/Andr Lotterer (D)/Benot Trluyer (F), 139.5pts. 2nd Allan McNish (GB)/Tom Kristensen (DEN), 126pts. LMP1 Manufacturers': 1st Audi*, 172pts. 2nd Toyota, 43pts (*Audi already Champions).