Scots duo go head-to-head at Sebringposted in ALMS17 | 03 | 2011

    THE INAUGURAL Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, a nine-month, seven-race global 'world championship' for sportscars, gets underway this weekend at Sebring in Florida, and two Scots will be dicing with each other for victory.

    But while 41-year-old Allan McNish will be gunning for his fourth win in the 12-hour endurance race, Bathgate's Marino Franchitti is eyeing his first win in America's Blue Riband race. Both drivers have been running in the top five during practice, but McNish has every intention of denying the 'young pretender' victory.

    "We're close buddies off the track, but when we both pull on our helmets and climb into our race cars, we become rivals. Sebring is always one of the toughest races on the calendar, so there's no space for niceties when we get on-track."

    "We're close buddies off the track, but when we both pull on our helmets and climb into our race cars, we become rivals," the Dumfries racer, who will again lead Audi's LMP1 assault in the race — contested by 57 of the world's fastest sportscars — explained today.

    "My priority is winning the race for Audi"

    "Sebring is always one of the toughest races on the calendar, so there's no space for niceties when we get on-track. My priority is wining the race for Audi, and that's what I'll be doing my best to achieve."

    For McNish, a double Le Mans 24-Hours winner, the Sebring race has a special relevance this year; he'll be driving the turbodiesel Audi R15TDI (pictured) for the last time before it's replaced by the all-new R18 for the French endurance classic.

    "Ideally we would have preferred to have raced the R18 here," continued McNish, who will again partner longtime team-mates, Dane Tom Kristensen and Italian Dindo Capello, in the car, "but circumstances meant that wasn't possible.

    “The new coupé will get its first public outing at the ‘test weekend’ for the Le Mans 24 Hours in April and we'll give it its race début at Spa the following month.

    “But this weekend we’ll be trying hard to give the ‘old girl’ one last victory in its 10th and final scheduled race. Tom, Dindo and I gave the R15 a début race win at Sebring in 2009, the first of three race wins this particular Audi model scored over the past two years.

    "It's one of the hardest races of the year"

    “The last win for the R15 was at Le Mans last year when Audi finished 1-2-3, and Tom and I were very close to adding to that tally in my last race in China last November. We know the R15's reliability record and its performance envelope so believe we can take the chase to the competition this weekend.”

    Audi sat out the Sebring race last year, but when McNish won in 2009 more than 170,000 spectators attended the race meeting at the bumpy 3.7-mile, 17-corner International Raceway which is America's premier sportscar facility nestled snuggly amongst the Florida orange orange groves and cattle ranches.

    And the oldest permanent road racing track in North America has seen some famous faces, with legends including Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio having previously won the annual race.

    “Sebring — fast, intense and bumpy — is one of the hardest races because it is the opening race of the year," McNish continued, "while it’s invariably staged in hot and humid weather conditions.

    “I raced here for the first time in 1997 and won. In the 12 Hour race, I've won it three times and finished on the podium six times in seven starts, so it's been a happy hunting ground for me. Hopefully that will continue this weekend, even if it means denying Marino winning it for the first time."

    "It's a big goal achieved for me"

    Franchitti though — who started from pole position in the LMP2 class last year at Sebring — is equally determined to notch his first win at the circuit in the petrol-powered Highcroft Racing HPD ARX-01e.

    “Although I've driven a lot of prototypes and won in the American Le Mans Series overall, I've never competed in LMP1," the 30-year-old Scot explained, "so it's a big goal achieved for me to finally drive in the premier class against all the big factory teams.

    “I can't wait to get out there and see how the extra power feels. Unlike Allan, we have a brand new HPD car this season and we're hoping it's able to be up battling amongst the factory Audis and Peugeots from the word go.”

    And Franchitti, who will again team up with Aussie David Brabham and Frenchman Simon Pagenaud — the same trio who won last year's ALMS title with Highcroft — isn't fazed by having to battle with another 56 cars on the tight track.

    “I always think the more cars the better," he admitted. "Everyone was worried at Petit Le Mans last year, but we actually found that working through the traffic gave us an advantage and we're hopeful that will continue at Sebring.

    “All the classes have to work together out there and having driven both GT and prototypes, as long as we all respect each other’s space it should make for great racing.”

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    Jim McGill

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