McNish wins Sebring 12 Hoursposted in LMANS18 | 03 | 2012

SCOT ALLAN McNISH got his FIA World Endurance Championship assault off to a flying start when he dominated the Sebring 12 Hours in Florida.

The 41-year-old from Dumfries led home an Audi 1-2 to claim maximum points in his diesel-powered Audi R18TDI.

“It’s a fantastic way to begin my world driver’s championship assault,” McNish (pictured right), who was partnered by Tom Kristensen (Denmark) and Dindo Capello (Italy), said yesterday (Sun).

“The race was superb from start to finish. We did a good job setting the car up for the race and not focussing particularly on qualifying.

"We knew it would be difficult with so many cars on track and so concentrated on making the Audi agile and consistent in terms of handling which we achieved.”

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McNish, who started the race second on the grid, snatched the lead on the opening lap. His Audi led all but 66 of the 325-laps clocked-up at an average speed of 101.263mph.

The diminutive Scot has now won North America’s oldest surviving sportscar race — held on the 3.7-mile, 17-corner Florida track — four times with Audi victorious 10 times in just 13 starts.

This was McNish's final drive in the diesel-powered R18TDI. The Scot will now take charge of Audi's pioneering hybrid sportscar, the R18 e-tron quattro.

“Our R18TDI was the best I’ve ever had in a race," McNish admitted, "and so it’s a fitting way for it to go into retirement.

"I'm now looking forward to the future and driving the R18 e-tron quattro hybrid sportscar.

"We'll race the car for the first time in the six-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps, the second round of the WEC, before we head to the Le Mans 24-Hours in June."

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Jim McGill