McNish, from Dumfries, and French co-driver Loic Duval set a combined average fastest lap time of 1min 43.145secs around the 3.91-mile Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir during today’s (FRI) 25mins qualifying session for the 28-car grid staged in warm but misty weather conditions.
Two drivers must record a minimum of two “flying” laps each with the grid decided by the combined average of each driver’s fastest two laps.
“Despite only starting from the second row of the grid I have a good feeling that we’ll be competitive in the race,” remarked McNish who finished second in the corresponding race last year.
“One thing is assured that Tom,Loïc and I will fight for the six hour duration so as to finish off the season in the best style possible.”
McNish, Duval and Tom Kristensen (Den) must each physically drive their Audi R18 e-tron quattro for a minimum of 45minutes as required in the regulations before the trio can be confirmed as this year’s world sportscar champions.
Allan continued: “It has been quite different here from 12 months ago. It was 42 degrees and inside the car it was so hot we could only do one stint because of the extreme heat last year.
“This morning I woke up to mist and thought I was back in Scotland! The air temperature is only around 25 degrees which has affected our set-up.
“We’ve struggled with the low grip of the circuit which is normal around here and in comparison to Toyota, the characteristics of the track suit them more than it suits the Audi. But to win a championship you have to race on every type of track and be competitive on every type of track.
“Qualifying was pretty close, the Toyota 1-2 shows they have the speed, but we [Audi] are much closer to them in qualifying than what I expected which bodes well for the race itself.”
The Audi Sport Team Joest R18 e-tron quattro of Marcel Fassler (CH)/André Lotterer (D)/Benoît Tréluyer (F) begins the Six Hours of Bahrain race from third position having set an average time 0.527secs slower than the pole-starting Toyota.
The Six hours of Bahrain race is scheduled to start at 12 noon (UK time) on Saturday.
* Bahrain is +3hrs British time
